# Legal Doctrines Test Whether Self-Custody Is Property

Courts and legislators increasingly contest whether self-custodied crypto can be treated as abandoned, lost, or forfeited property simply because coins sit unmoved, making statutory protection of self-custody rights a recurring US policy battleground.

- Conviction: 35 / 100 (forming)
- Horizon: Emerging (watchlist)
- Tracking since: 2026-07-27T00:00:00.000Z
- Last updated: 2026-07-27T05:39:28.511Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/trends/self-custody-property-rights-contested
- Publisher: Polylog
- Affected regions: United States

## Recent evidence

- [confirms] A Lawsuit Claims Dormant Bitcoin as Lost Property, and Congress Moves to Close the Opening With CLARITY (2026-07-27): A lawsuit is seeking to claim dormant Bitcoin as lost property while a draft CLARITY provision would bar treating a self-custodied asset as abandoned or forfeited merely because its owner has not moved it. The clash of a legal claim and a legislative fix opens a distinct property-rights front for self-custody.