The Law Commission of England and Wales will set about reviewing private international legal challenges involving cryptocurrencies through a government-commissioned project.
This review, which was launched Oct. 18, will clarify how international law views emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and electronic documentation.
The law reform project, “Digital Assets: Which Law, Which Court?”, is titled “Digital Assets: Which Law, Which Court?” The project, dubbed “Digital Assets: Which Law, Which Court?” will present current international legal rules and how they apply to digital contexts. It will also make recommendations for legal reforms that would keep the United Kingdom’s laws relevant.
The Ministry of Justice sponsors the project. It aims to create reform proposals that will be made public for consultation in the second half of 2023.
This announcement showed that blockchain technology proliferation has caused a variety of conflicts of law issues which has in turn created legal uncertainty for users, governments, and organizations.
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It is difficult to decide which courts are competent or have the jurisdiction to hear disputes, and which laws should apply. This is due to the digital nature cryptocurrencies and digital assets such as nonfungible tokens, which are intangible, distributed, and difficult to identify geographically.
In a statement she shared with Cointelegraph, Sarah Green, law commissioner, commercial and common, highlighted the difficulties in dealing with legal disputes involving this burgeoning area.
“Digital assets and other emerging technologies are rapidly developing, and the laws that support them and govern them have not kept up with this pace.” This has caused inconsistencies between jurisdictions and uncertainty about which laws should be used and which courts should rule.
It also highlighted its intention to support innovative digital technologies such as cryptocurrencies in the U.K., as the country seeks to bea hub for cryptocurrency adoption.
The Law Commission was involved in several law reform projects that included smart contracts, digital assets, and decentralized autonome organization electronic trading documents. Cointelegraph reached out to Law Commission for more information about the project.
