Legal Certainty of Property Rights over Digital Assets in Indonesia: Towards a Comprehensive Civil Law Framework

Abstract

The rapid development of blockchain technology and the digital economy has transformed digital assets into valuable economic resources that increasingly influence commercial transactions, investment, and financial innovation. Despite their growing significance, Indonesian law has not yet established a comprehensive legal framework explicitly recognizing digital assets as objects of property rights. This study aims to examine the legal certainty of property rights over digital assets in Indonesia and to formulate legal reform proposals capable of accommodating technological developments while ensuring legal protection. This research employs a normative legal research method using statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches. Primary legal materials include the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the Indonesian Civil Code, Law Number 1 of 2024 concerning the Amendment to the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, Government Regulation Number 71 of 2019, and Law Number 27 of 2022 concerning Personal Data Protection. Secondary legal materials consist of recent national and international legal literature on digital assets and property law. This study concludes that Indonesia requires comprehensive legal reform through the express recognition of digital assets as intangible movable property, harmonization of sectoral legislation, modernization of procedural law, and strengthened institutional coordination to ensure effective legal protection and support the sustainable development of the national digital economy.