Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper of 2008, announcing Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, heralded a revolution in financial technology the full implications of which remain to be seen.

Cryptocurrency and cryptoassets have, since then, become an increasingly important feature of the international legal landscape. The last few years, in particular, have given rise to a series of cryptocurrency and cryptoasset-related legal disputes internationally that have engaged a number of fields of law, including the law of property, the law of contract, the law of trusts, private international law, insolvency law, the law of defamation, and injunctive relief.

In this online seminar, English and Hong Kong barrister Andrew Lynn will provide an overview and update of international cryptocurrency and cryptoasset disputes from England and Wales, North America, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and New Zealand. In particular, Andrew will explore how courts have attempted to answer the following questions:

• Is cryptocurrency property and, if so, what kind of property?
• What are the contractual arrangements underpinning cryptocurrency trading platforms?
• How can common law and equitable doctrines be adapted to algorithmic trading?
• When will trusts arise in respect of cryptocurrencies or other cryptoassets?
• What happens when a cryptocurrency trading platform becomes insolvent?
• Ransomware attacks, hacking, and internet fraud: what steps can be taken and what relief obtained?
• And, most intriguingly of all: who really is Satoshi Nakamoto?

About the Speaker:

Andrew Lynn is a dual-qualified English and Hong Kong barrister and an associate member of 5 Stone Buildings in London. He has acted as counsel for the prominent cryptocurrency investor and entrepreneur, Roger Ver, in his dispute with OKEx cryptocurrency exchange (Ver, Roger Keith v OKEX Fintech Company and Xu, Ming Xing), as well as for the sellers of BitOcean, a Japanese digital currency trading platform, in their dispute with the subsidiary of a Hong Kong listed company. His contentious practice covers a wide range of commercial and chancery litigation, encompassing commercial, trusts, pensions, company, and private international law, often with a cross-border or international element. He has published in Trusts & Trustees and Trust Quarterly Review, has an article on constructive trusts forthcoming in the Law Quarterly Review, and in partnership with LexisNexis Hong Kong has authored the “trusts disputes” series of practice notes for their Practical Guidance series.