Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill [HL]

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

3rd reading
Thursday 8th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Ipswich (CB)]

My Lords, as the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, who is not in his place but currently on the Woolsack, said on Report, the two clauses of this Bill fully reflect neither the nearly 1,000 pages of learning that the Law Commission produced on the subject of digital assets, nor the almost equal volume of written and oral evidence received by the Special Public Bill Committee, variously approving the Law Commission’s approach and characterising the Bill as pointless or even dangerous. That the Committee, which I chaired, was able to consider these issues and debate them out with a degree of thoroughness in the Moses Room prior to a further debate, largely thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, on Report, is a tribute to our clerk, Matthew Burton, and all members of the committee—including not least the Minister—whose collective expertise was remarkable.

My only remaining concern is that, since the committee was entirely lacking in female members, it is entirely possible that we have succeeded in missing something obvious. The work of this House is now complete. I was delighted to hear just now that the Bill has been endorsed in Northern Ireland, and I wish it well on its onward journey.

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, first, I congratulate the Law Commission for its work on this Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Anderson, has mentioned the almost 1,000 pages of work from the Law Commission, its consultation paper, the final report, the supplemental report—no one accused the Law Commission of a lack of thoroughness as far as this two-clause Bill is concerned. Its purpose, as it said, was to ensure that the courts can respond sensitively to the complexity of emerging technology and apply the law to new fact patterns involving that technology. It also said:

“We conclude that the flexibility of common law allows for the recognition of a distinct category of personal property that can better recognise, accommodate and protect the unique features of certain digital assets (including crypto-tokens and cryptoassets). We recommend legislation to confirm the existence of this category and remove any uncertainty”.


As the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, has explained, we have thoroughly examined the resulting Bill under the Special Public Bill procedure, and it clearly fulfils that purpose, so I would like to thank our witnesses. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, for his excellent chairing of the committee; our clerk, Matthew Burton; the Minister, of course; my fellow members for all their work on the Bill; and I agree with the Minister’s particular thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, for his stimulating and provocative input into our deliberations. But, as ever, there is more work to be done. The Law Commission recommended that the Government create a panel of industry experts who can provide guidance on technical and legal issues relating to digital assets, and I understand that the Ministry of Justice has asked the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce, an expert group chaired by the Master of the Rolls that produces non-binding guidance on areas of legal uncertainty, to take forward this work.

The Law Commission also made recommendations to provide market participants with legal tools that do not yet exist in England and Wales, let alone in Northern Ireland, such as new ways to take security over crypto tokens and tokenised securities. It recommended that this work be undertaken by a multidisciplinary project team. Whether the Minister can give us an update today, I do not know, but I very much hope that he will write to members of the committee, because that is unfinished business and it would be very useful to hear from the Minister about it.

[Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. In doing so, I declare my technology interests as set out in the register. Like other noble Lords, I have, rightfully, a long list of thanks, not least to all those witnesses who gave oral and written evidence to our Special Bill Committee; to Matthew Burton, our clerk, and all his team; to the Minister for his careful and thoughtful engagement, and all his officials; and not least to the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, for his excellent chairing of our Special Bill Committee.

This is a short Bill, but one with significant impact for the UK, and indeed beyond our shores, because through our legislative process, the world is watching what we do in this space. We have a great fintech tradition in this country, a great fintech ecosystem, and whether it is financial market infrastructure, dematerialisation of our capital markets or crucially important financial inclusion, digital assets have a critical role to play. With some trillions of the UK and world economy due to be transacted by digital assets by the end of this decade, the UK needs to ensure that it is well set for this future. The Bill does this through non-prescription, but using the great good fortune of English and Welsh common law, with its agility and its adaptability, as the Minister rightly said, for new technologies not yet even imagined.

It was an extraordinary pleasure to be part of this legislative process. My only question for the Minister is whether there is a schedule yet in the other place, so we can ensure that Bill becomes law as soon as possible. Not only does it send a signal to the world; it sends a signal to all those involved in digital assets in this country that with the financial centre of London and our fantastic fintech start-ups, scale-ups and larger businesses, London and the United Kingdom is an excellent place to be involved in digital assets business.