FCA’s Supervision of Cryptoasset Businesses July 21, 2020 It was announced from the 10th of January this year that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be acting as the supervisor of UK cryptoasset businesses under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs). The relevant amending regulations expands the application of the MLRs to [...]
Common mistakes founders make – a lawyers’ point of view July 14, 2020 There is a ton of noise on how to succeed in making fail-proof start-ups or nailing the elevator pitch. What doesn’t find much mention is mistakes founders make for lack of a legal budget. As a lawyer I will obviously say that there is just no substitute for proper legal advice, but I also recognise [...]
The impact of Covid-19 on the development of central bank digital currencies July 7, 2020 The global pandemic that is COVID-19 has produced a range of unexpected consequences in terms of demand and supply. From the early days of the outbreak and the shortages of toilet paper and hand sanitiser, through the demand for yeast as locked down families turned to home baking, to the excess of oil that turned [...]
New frontiers: technology and dispute resolution June 30, 2020 One of the cornerstones of dispute resolution is that it should be conducted efficiently and cost effectively. Given the increasing pressure on lawyers to adhere to this, together with the increased volume of disputes, lawyers in this field have had to leverage legal technology to achieve case efficiencies, as well as grapple with disputes that [...]
The Important Role of Solicitors in “Future Fund” Scheme Applications June 23, 2020 The government Future Fund scheme, devised to help innovative companies impacted by the Covid 19 outbreak, includes solicitors in critical elements of the application and funding process. On 20 April 2020, the chancellor introduced the Coronavirus Future Fund , a scheme designed to help innovative high-growth companies (including companies in the crypto and FinTech space) [...]
The Death of the Cloud June 18, 2020 The Cloud: a concept of genius, with its nature of simplicity and powerful, soft and fluffy values. The notion underlying it is that data is held in a disembodied form that is universal, as omnipresent as the clouds which envelop the world, intermeshing and interlinking so completely that there is only one single cloud which [...]
The Evolution of Regulation June 9, 2020 Most people who are active in the use or application of blockchain technology, or who have lived through the development of the activity in the space, are more and more aware of the development of regulatory infrastructure intended to support this. However, many are not fully aware of the developments that are occurring in different [...]
Emerging technologies challenge lawyers too June 2, 2020 Douglas Adams has a lesson for lawyers. His rules about new technologies say that anything in the world when you’re born is a natural part of the world; anything invented between the time you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting; but anything invented after you’re thirty-five is unnatural. The point of the joke is [...]
Talking Legal May 26, 2020 One of the most important questions asked when contemplating creating a crypto digital asset on the blockchain (whether you call it a “coin” or a “token” or some new name) is how will such digital assets be treated under the law in the relevant jurisdiction(s)? How it is treated under the relevant law is critical [...]
