UK Consultation on Legal Uncertainty in the Application of English Private Law to Cryptoassets, Distributed Ledger Technology and Smart Contracts

The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce has published a consultation paper on key issues of legal uncertainty regarding cryptoassets, distributed ledger technology and smart contracts. The UKJT is involved in preparing an authoritative legal statement on the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts under English private law. The final statement will consider whether English private law sufficiently covers cryptoassets, DLT and smart contracts and where legal uncertainty may arise. The issues in the consultation are limited to English private law and do not include any issues on regulatory characterization, taxation, criminal law, partnership law, data protection, consumer protection, settlement finality, regulatory capital, anti-money laundering or counter-terrorist financing.

UKJT is part of the LawTech Delivery Panel, which was established in 2018, with the aim of identifying barriers and opportunities for growth. The consultation closes on June 21, 2019.

View the consultation paper.

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