Synthesizing Arguments on Bitcoin as Property from First Principles From first principles—rooted in foundational concepts of property law (e.g., bundles of rights, scarcity, and enforceability), cryptography (e.g., hash functions and consensus mechanisms), and economics (e.g., resource allocation and value creation)—the debate over classifying Bitcoin as “property” hinges on whether its digital, decentralized nature aligns with…

Introduction: Defending the Classification of Bitcoin as Property From first principles of property law, drawing on foundational concepts such as the bundle of rights theory (e.g., rights to possess, use, exclude, and alienate) and economic reasoning (e.g., scarcity and transferability as bases for value allocation), I will construct a rebuttal demonstrating that Bitcoin qualifies as…

Introduction: Challenging the Classification of Bitcoin as Property From first principles of property law, rooted in common law traditions and philosophical underpinnings (e.g., Lockean notions of mixing labor with resources to create ownership rights, or Hohfeldian analysis of rights and duties), I will construct a legal argument that Bitcoin cannot properly be classified as “property.”…