Is cryptocurrency personal property under Australian law? It depends

Abstract

In response to the Australian Government's recent decision to introduce and regulate cryptocurrency exchanges, guided by recent jurisprudential developments the US and other common law jurisdictions, this article examines the implications of cryptocurrency as property, and being regulated as personal property under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (the ‘ PPSA’) in Australia. This article holds the view that some types of cryptocurrency can be recognised as personal property and discusses the possible ways of categorising cryptocurrency under the PPSA and the manners in which security interests in cryptocurrency can be perfected. Within the existing PPSA framework, this article proposes considering some types of cryptocurrency as a specific item of intangible property and argues that some types of cryptocurrency, as one category of personal property, may be best perfected by control by the secured party and/or through an intermediary.