An Act to amend and reenact §§ 55.1-2500 and 55.1-2529 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 55.1-2514.1, relating to Virginia Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act; digital assets.
HB798 amends the Virginia Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act to expressly address digital assets. The bill adds definitions for “digital asset” and “digital asset account,” and it updates the unclaimed property framework so that digital assets can be treated like other forms of intangible property when held by a custodian or other holder and later presumed abandoned under the Act. It also revises related definitions in § 55.1-2500 to fit digital-asset custody and reporting within the existing unclaimed property system.
The bill’s practical effect is to bring cryptocurrency and similar non-legal-tender digital value into Virginia’s unclaimed property regime, giving the State Treasurer and other administrators clearer authority to identify, report, and take custody of abandoned digital assets. It affects holders such as exchanges, custodians, financial institutions, and other entities that maintain digital asset accounts, while also creating a statutory framework for owners to reclaim property through the same general unclaimed-property process used for other intangible assets.
HB798 expands the Virginia Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act to include digital assets and digital asset accounts within the statutory definitions and abandonment/custody framework. This changes state law by clarifying that certain digital value held by a third party can be treated as unclaimed property, subject to reporting, due diligence, and transfer to the Commonwealth under the Act. The bill primarily affects custodians, exchanges, financial organizations, and other holders of digital assets, while preserving owners’ ability to recover property through the state unclaimed property process.
The available record suggests the bill was generally favorable and noncontroversial, as reflected by its enactment into law and the absence of recorded committee debate or vote opposition in the provided materials. The measure appears to have been viewed as a modernization of existing unclaimed property law to account for emerging digital financial products. No dissenting viewpoints are documented in the supplied context.
No specific contention is shown in the provided transcripts or vote history. The most likely policy questions raised by a bill of this kind would concern how digital assets are valued, whether custodians can access wallets or private keys, how abandonment is determined for volatile assets, and how the state would safeguard owners’ rights. However, none of those issues are documented as disputed in the materials provided.