This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the national and international legal issues surrounding digital assets in enforcement and insolvency.
Its primary aim is to ensure that the economic value of digital assets can be fully realised by creditors and other stakeholders through the legal processes and remedies available to them, and that holders of digital assets receive adequate protection. These legal issues are considered in diverse commercial and technical contexts, ranging from native cryptocurrencies to token, whether held directly or with custodians and other intermediaries.
The book offers analysis on different levels: Firstly, it scrutinises the existing legal frameworks for enforcement and insolvency in various countries and evaluates the extent to which they can accommodate digital forms of value; secondly, it compares the approaches taken in different jurisdictions and addresses the cross-border issues of jurisdiction and conflict of laws issues that may arise; and thirdly, it focuses on international texts, such as the UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law, as well as the Global Code of Digital Enforcement, and suggested avenues for further harmonisation and unification of the law.
The book provides much-needed responses to the increasing significance of digital assets in modern insolvency and enforcement proceedings. It takes a unique global approach to a wide range of legal perspectives, drawing upon the contributors’ experience as leading practitioners, representatives of international organisations, and academics, in common law and civil law jurisdictions around the world. The book identifies the most pressing areas for law reform, and proposes solutions that are both legally robust as well as fit for practical purpose.
Introduction, Christian Koller (University of Vienna, Austria) and Matthias Lehmann (University of Vienna, Austria) Part One: Overarching Issues 1. Property and Security Rights in Crypto Assets – A Comparative Law View, Louise Gullifer (University of Cambridge, UK) 2. Different Treatment of Digital Assets in Insolvency and Enforcement Proceedings? Anna Veneziano (UNIDROIT, Italy) 3. The Role of the Situs of Digital Assets for Enforcement and Insolvency Proceedings, Michael Ng (Singapore University of Social Sciences) Part Two: Enforcement in Digital Assets 4. The Global Code on Digital Enforcement, Jos Uitdehaag (International Union of Judicial Officers, Netherlands) 5. The Proper Procedure for the Enforcement of Money Claims in Digital Assets, Dominik Skauradszun (University of Applied Sciences, Germany) 6. How to Find Digital Assets of the Debtor – A View from Practice, Anna Wilke (Flöther & Wissing, Germany) 7. Digital Assets Held by an Intermediary and Enforcement of Claims Against the Intermediary’s Customers, Matthias Lehmann (University of Vienna, Austria) and Christian Koller (University of Vienna, Austria) 8. World-Wide Freezing Orders Regarding Digital Assets, Nik Yeo (Fountain Court Chambers, UK) Part Three: Insolvency in Digital Assets 9. Digital Assets as Part of the Insolvency Estate, Thomas Nägele (Nägele Rechtsanwälte, Liechtenstein) 10. Custody and Wallets in Insolvency, Dirk Zetzsche (University of Luxembourg) 11. Rights of Digital Asset Holders in Insolvency, Oliver Völkel (Stadler Völkel Rechtsanwälte, Austria) 12. Enforcement of Investor Rights against the Insolvency Estate: Segregation of Digital Assets or Transfer to Another Provider? Hubert de Vauplane (Kramer Levin, France) 13. Experiences with Insolvencies of Crypto-Exchanges, Tetsuo Morishita (Sophia University, Japan) 14. The Application of the Winding-Up Directive on Credit Institutions to Wallet Providers and Crypto Exchanges, Hossein Nabilou (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands) 15. Finality, Rights in Rem, and the Blockchain: Can Transactions in Digital Assets Be Avoided? Amy Held (University of Vienna, Austria) 16. The Fate of Digital Assets in US Bankruptcy Proceedings, Benjamin Geva (University of Toronto, Canada)
Christian Koller is Professor of European and International Civil Procedure Law and Vice-Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Vienna, Austria. Matthias Lehmann is Professor of Private Law, International Private Law and Comparative Law at the University of Vienna, Austria and Professor of European and Comparative Business Law at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
