Today in crypto: The UK passed a law clarifying how property rights apply to crypto, Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin stock plummets, and Poland’s president vetoes a crypto bill over innovation and freedom concerns.
UK takes ‘massive step forward’ in property laws for crypto
A UK bill that clarifies that digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, are property was given royal assent and passed into law on Tuesday, which advocates say will better protect crypto users.
King Charles gave his approval to the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill, which clarifies that “a thing that is digital or electronic in nature” isn’t outside the realm of personal property rights just because it doesn’t fit under the law’s two categories of personal property, covering tangible and intangible goods.
UK common law established that digital assets are property, but the bill sought to codify a recommendation made by the Law Commission of England and Wales in 2024 that crypto be categorized as a new form of personal property for clarity.
Freddie New, policy chief at advocacy group Bitcoin Policy UK, said that the bill “becoming law is a massive step forward for Bitcoin in the United Kingdom and for everyone who holds and uses it here.”
The advocacy group CryptoUK said the law “gives digital assets a much clearer legal footing” for things like proving ownership and recovering stolen assets. It added that the law gives “greater clarity and protection for consumers and investors” and gives crypto holders “the same confidence and certainty they expect with other forms of property.”
American Bitcoin stock tumbles 50% as BTC proxy trade unravels
Shares of American Bitcoin Corp (ABTC), the Bitcoin-mining and treasury company headed by Eric Trump, plunged on Tuesday as difficult market conditions continued to pressure crypto-linked equities.
ABTC, which debuted on the Nasdaq in early September following a reverse merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, lost more than half its value in early trading. The stock reached an intraday low of $1.75, representing a 51% decline on the day, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
The shares are now down roughly 78% from their post-listing high of $9.31 on Sept. 9, underscoring the broad unwinding across the digital-asset sector and its spillover into related equities.
While no single catalyst appeared to drive Tuesday’s steep sell-off, crypto-linked stocks have faced renewed volatility in recent weeks amid a broad retreat in digital assets and profit-taking across technology shares.
American Bitcoin’s business is closely tied to the price of Bitcoin, which has experienced one of its sharpest pullbacks in history since mid-October, falling from a peak near $126,000 to a November low of below $80,000.
Poland’s president vetoes strict crypto bill, says it threatens “freedoms of Poles”
Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki declined to sign a bill imposing strict regulations on the crypto asset market, drawing praise from the crypto community and sharp criticism from others in the government.
Nawrocki vetoed Poland’s Crypto-Asset Market Act, saying its provisions “genuinely threaten the freedoms of Poles, their property, and the stability of the state,” according to a statement by the president’s press office on Monday.
Introduced in June, the bill has drawn criticism from industry advocates such as Polish politician Tomasz Mentzen, who had anticipated the president’s refusal to sign it as it cleared parliamentary approval.
Although crypto advocates welcomed the veto as a win for the market, several government officials condemned the move, claiming the president had “chosen chaos” and must bear full responsibility for the outcome.
One of the main reasons cited for the veto was a provision allowing authorities to easily block websites operating in the crypto market.
“Domain blocking laws are opaque and can lead to abuse,” the president’s office said in an official news release.
The president’s office also cited the bill’s widely criticized length, saying its complexity reduces transparency and would lead to “overregulation,” especially when compared with simpler frameworks in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
