The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce of the Lawtech Delivery Panel has published a legal statement on the status of crypto assets and smart contracts under English and Welsh law. The landmark statement seeks to address legal uncertainty by recognizing crypto assets as tradable property and smart contracts as enforceable agreements under English law.
While the smart contract and crypto asset markets are seeing significant growth, their legal uncertainty is often cited as the most barrier to adoption, investment and development. This legal statement takes significant steps to address this uncertainty, answering critical questions as to their classification and characterization. By providing investors with increased confidence of their rights, the statement helps to provide a dependable foundation for mainstream utilization of crypto assets and smart contracts.
Chancellor to the High Court, Geoffrey Vos, chair of the UKJT, said in a statement: “In legal terms, crypto assets and smart contracts undoubtedly represent the future. I hope that the Legal Statement will go a long way towards providing much needed market confidence, legal certainty and predictability in areas that are of great importance to the technological and legal communities and to the global financial services industry.”