Legal Statement on Digital Securities: Public Consultation

UK Jurisdiction Taskforce - Foreword by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls

In November 2018, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce published its Legal Statement on the Status of Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts. The Legal Statement expressed the view that cryptoassets were property and smart contracts were contracts under English law, and has been well received in many jurisdictions.

On 22 April 2021, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce published its Digital Dispute Resolution Rules to be incorporated into on-chain digital relationships and smart contracts. They allow for arbitral or expert dispute resolution in very short periods, for arbitrators to implement decisions directly on-chain using a private key, and for optional anonymity of the parties.

The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce has now turned its attention to the way in which English law can support the issue and transfer of equity or debt securities on blockchain and DLT systems. We asked experts and members of the public to provide their input on the questions that the proposed Legal Statement on Digital Securities would most usefully answer.

We will be very grateful to receive responses from as many people as possible in the legal, digital and financial sectors. The consultation closes 30th November 2022. Thereafter, the UKJT will be hosting a public consultation event to discuss the results.

It is intended that a sub-committee of the UKJT (Lawrence Akka QC, David Quest QC, Richard Hay, Matthew Lavy, Sam Goodman and Anne Rose) will prepare the Legal Statement for publication after the results of the consultation have confirmed the questions to be answered, and after the public consultation event.

The public consultation has now closed.