Civil law analysis of digital asset ownership disputes in the development of the modern economy

Abstract

The rapid development of blockchain-based assets created legal uncertainty regarding their proprietary status and the resolution of ownership disputes under conventional civil law. This study examined the legal characteristics of digital assets, the distinction between technological control and legal ownership, and the adequacy of Indonesian civil law in protecting proprietary interests in the modern digital economy. The study employed normative legal research with a qualitative library research approach through statutory, conceptual, and comparative analyses of legal materials and relevant scholarly literature. The findings demonstrated that digital assets fulfilled essential proprietary characteristics, including identifiable ownership, exclusive control, economic value, transferability, and legal enforceability. The study further found that cryptographic control did not necessarily establish lawful ownership and that Indonesian law remained doctrinally fragmented in addressing blockchain-based property. The study proposed a functional property-rights framework that distinguished technological control from legal entitlement and supported a technology-neutral interpretation of property law. It concluded that strengthening legal certainty required the modernization of Indonesian civil property law while preserving its fundamental doctrinal principles.