The UK Law Commission is to review international crypto laws to consider legal reforms
The Law Commission of England and Wales will begin reviewing private international legal challenges involving cryptocurrencies through a government commissioned project.
The review, which was launched on 18 October, will provide clarity on how international law approaches new technologies such as cryptocurrencies, digital assets and electronic documentation.
The Law Reform Project, called “Digital Assets: Which Law, Which Court?” will outline current international legal rules and their application in digital contexts with the aim of making recommendations for legal reform to keep UK laws relevant.
The project is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and intends to develop reform proposals to be put out for public consultation by the second half of 2023.
The announcement highlighted that the proliferation of blockchain technology has generated a number of legal conflicts, which in turn have created legal uncertainty for users, organizations and governments.
Related: 8 Things to Remember as UK Considers New Crypto Property Laws
A major hurdle is assessing which courts have the power or jurisdiction to hear disputes and which laws should be applied. This is also due to the digital nature of cryptocurrencies and digital assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are intangible, distributed and geographically difficult to define, further exacerbating legal considerations.
Professor Sarah Green, Law Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law, highlighted the difficulty of dealing with legal disputes involving the burgeoning space in a statement shared with Cointelegraph:
“With digital assets and other emerging technologies developing rapidly in recent years, the laws supporting and governing them have struggled to keep pace. This has led to inconsistencies across jurisdictions, with uncertainty about which laws to apply and which courts that will decide on them.”
The announcement also underlined its aim to support innovative digital technologies such as cryptocurrencies in the UK as the country looks to establish itself as a hub for cryptocurrency adoption.
The Law Commission has been involved in a number of law reform projects involving smart contracts, digital assets decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) electronic trade documents. Cointelegraph has contacted the Law Commission to find out more about the project
