The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 gives the courts a clearer legal framework for treating some digital assets, including crypto-tokens and NFTs, as personal property. It received Royal Assent on 2 December 2025.[1]
That matters when an estate includes crypto. It does not give an executor an automatic way into an exchange account or a self-custody wallet. It does not replace a grant of probate, letters of administration, a will, platform procedures or professional advice. In practice, the representative must identify the asset, preserve evidence, establish authority and deal with the asset without exposing confidential credentials.[1][3]
This is general education for readers in the UK, with the Property Act discussion focused on England and Wales. It is not legal, tax, probate or financial advice. Estates can involve different rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and an estate with crypto may need advice from a qualified solicitor and tax professional.
What the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 changed
Traditional personal property has often been described through two categories: things in possession, such as a physical object, and things in action, such as a debt or a contractual right.[1][2] The Law Commission concluded that some digital assets do not fit neatly into either category. Its recommendation was a statutory confirmation that a thing is not excluded from personal property rights simply because it does not fit one of those existing categories.[1][2]
The Act leaves the courts to develop the boundaries of this “third category” and the rights attached to it.[1] That is important language. The Act improves legal certainty, but it is not a complete rulebook for every token, account arrangement or dispute.
For an estate, the point is that an asset does not become irrelevant to property administration merely because it exists through digital records. A crypto-token or NFT may need to be considered alongside bank accounts, shares, personal possessions and other assets. The exact legal treatment still depends on the asset, the ownership evidence, the governing arrangements and the facts of the estate.[1][2]
The Law Commission also says that recommendations on other matters, including collateral arrangements for crypto-tokens, remain under consideration.[1] Readers should not treat the Act as a guarantee that every legal question about digital assets has been settled.
What an executor or administrator needs to establish
A personal representative normally needs to answer four separate questions. Keeping them separate avoids a common mistake: treating a wallet, an exchange account and a blockchain address as if they were the same thing.
1. What asset may exist?
Possible leads include:
- an account with a cryptoasset exchange or other platform;
- a self-custody wallet or hardware device;
- an NFT or another token recorded on a blockchain;
- a business, trust or investment arrangement with a digital-asset component; and
- records showing that the deceased lent, borrowed, staked or otherwise dealt with crypto.
A wallet application may be software that manages keys and displays balances.[1][2] An exchange account is a contractual relationship with a provider. A blockchain address is a public identifier in a ledger. None of those labels, on its own, proves that the deceased owned the asset or that a particular person controlled it.
The existing guide What is a crypto wallet, private key, address and seed phrase? covers the technical distinctions. For estate administration, the distinction affects who may hold records, who can respond to a request, and what evidence a professional adviser may need.
2. Who owned it?
Ownership evidence can include platform statements, transaction records, tax or accounting records, correspondence, purchase documents, business records and information held by a solicitor or accountant. The weight of each record depends on the circumstances. A name on an exchange account may be useful evidence, but it does not answer every question about beneficial ownership, joint ownership, lending or an asset held for a company.
A public address can help identify transactions to investigate, but it is not itself an ownership record.[1][2] It is not, by itself, proof that a deceased person owned the address or controlled the relevant asset. Do not publish addresses, personal details or screenshots in an attempt to prove a claim. Preserve original records and take advice on how they should be used.
3. What authority does the representative have?
An executor is generally the person named in a will who deals with the estate. An administrator acts under a grant of letters of administration where there is no executor able to act or where the estate is otherwise dealt with through that route. GOV.UK’s Bona Vacantia guidance defines a personal representative by reference to the person named on a grant of probate, the executor named in the will, the person named on a grant of letters of administration, or the person entitled to take one out.[3]
That definition is relevant to a specific GOV.UK process. It is not a substitute for advice on a particular estate. A platform may ask for a death certificate, probate or administration documents, identification, and further information before discussing an account.[3] It may have its own estate procedure and may be unable to disclose information until authority is established.
4. How can the asset be dealt with safely?
The representative should keep an evidence log, secure paper and digital records, and use verified contact details for any platform. Keep estate records separate from ordinary family group chats and informal requests. If a platform, email address or person asks for an upfront fee, a “release” payment, a remote-access session or confidential credentials, pause and obtain independent advice.
Do not send a recovery phrase, private key, password, one-time code or similar secret to an adviser, platform contact, investigator or recovery business. This article does not provide instructions for handling or transferring secret credentials, and it does not recommend recovery firms. A professional adviser can help decide what lawful and safe process is appropriate without asking readers to disclose secrets in an article, email or chat.
Exchange-held crypto and self-custody are different estate problems
An exchange-held balance may involve an account contract, identity checks, internal records and a provider’s bereavement or legal-request process.[3][5] Start with the provider’s official website and verify the firm independently. The FCA’s cryptoasset information page links to the Financial Services Register and the FCA warning list, and explains that the register covers firms the FCA registers, supervises and enforces for anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing purposes.[5]
That registration is not a recommendation, a guarantee that an asset will be returned, or proof that a product has the protections readers may associate with a bank account.[5][6] The FCA register itself tells users to check the firm’s status and the potential risks, including whether products and services are covered by particular protections.[6]
Self-custody creates a different problem because there may be no provider with a reset or bereavement process.[1][2] There may be no platform that can reset access or confirm a balance. The representative may have evidence that an asset existed but no safe, lawful route to control it. Do not improvise with confidential credentials, test unknown software, or trust a person who promises guaranteed recovery. Ask a qualified solicitor or other appropriately regulated professional how to preserve the estate’s position.
Why the Insolvency Service example matters
Probate and insolvency are different legal processes, but the Insolvency Service’s figures show why digital assets should not be overlooked during financial investigations.[4] In 2024/25, the Official Receiver Service identified £523,580 of cryptoassets across 59 insolvency cases. In 2019/20, it identified £1,436 across 14 cases. The Insolvency Service described the increase as a 420% rise in the number of cases and appointed its first dedicated crypto intelligence specialist.[4]
Those figures are not a valuation of a reader’s estate, and they do not show that every cryptoasset can be recovered.[4] They do show that crypto can be a relevant recoverable asset in formal proceedings. An executor or administrator should record credible leads rather than assuming that an asset is outside the estate because it is held digitally.
What if nobody can identify an entitled person?
The GOV.UK Bona Vacantia Division guidance concerns estates in England and Wales where a person dies without blood relatives and without leaving a will, subject to the stated exceptions for the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall.[3] It explains the role of the Division and the meaning of personal representative for that process.
This is not a general shortcut for an executor who is having difficulty finding an exchange or wallet. The order of priority, the evidence required and the right route depend on the facts. If an estate may fall into this category, use the current GOV.UK guidance and obtain advice rather than treating an online article as a probate application.
A practical, non-technical checklist
For a first review of papers and devices, an executor or administrator can:
- Record the lead, where it came from and the date it was found.
- Separate exchange correspondence, wallet references, transaction records and tax or accounting papers.
- Preserve originals and avoid editing screenshots or exporting over the only copy.
- Check whether the name belongs to the deceased, a company, a joint arrangement or somebody else.
- Identify the relevant jurisdiction and whether probate or letters of administration have been issued.
- Contact a platform only through details obtained from its official website, not a message supplied by an unknown person.
- Ask a qualified adviser about ownership, disclosure, tax and any dispute before moving assets or sharing sensitive information.
The checklist is for evidence and administration. It is not a method for accessing a wallet, bypassing security or transferring crypto.
Questions to take to a solicitor or tax adviser
A professional consultation can be more useful if the representative brings a clear record of what is known and what is not. Questions may include:
- Does this asset appear to belong to the estate, a company, a trust or another person?
- What documents are needed to approach the provider?
- Are there inheritance-tax, income-tax, capital-gains or reporting issues to investigate?
- Does the will, a contract or a business record change the position?
- What should be preserved if ownership or control is disputed?
- Which parts of the estate fall under England and Wales law, and which do not?
Tax treatment is fact-specific and can change. This article does not calculate a liability or tell an executor how to file a return.
The short answer
The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 confirms that a digital asset is not shut out of personal property rights merely because it does not fit the two traditional categories. That gives estates a firmer legal starting point, but it does not make crypto administration automatic.
Executors and administrators still need to establish authority, identify the asset, gather evidence, distinguish a provider account from a wallet or blockchain address, and protect confidential information. The safest next step for a difficult estate is independent legal and tax advice, not a request for a secret credential or a payment to an unknown recovery service.
Further reading
- What is a crypto wallet, private key, address and seed phrase?
- Seed phrase, private key, public key and address: what is the difference?
- If I die with crypto, how can my executor find it?
- Is blockchain private, public, permissioned or personal data?
- What is a cryptoasset?
Sources
[1] Law Commission, “The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 has received Royal Assent” (3 December 2025): https://lawcom.gov.uk/news/the-property-digital-assets-etc-act-2025-has-received-royal-assent
[2] Law Commission, “Digital assets” project page: https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/digital-assets
[3] GOV.UK, “Make a claim to a deceased person’s estate” (updated 12 March 2026): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-claim-to-a-deceased-persons-estate
[4] Insolvency Service, “Insolvency Service appoints first dedicated crypto specialist to help recover online assets such as Bitcoin” (9 June 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/insolvency-service-appoints-first-dedicated-crypto-specialist-to-help-recover-online-assets-such-as-bitcoin
[5] FCA, “Cryptoassets”: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/cryptoassets-information
[6] FCA Financial Services Register, “Registered Cryptoasset Firms”: https://register.fca.org.uk/s/search?predefined=CA