UKJT Legal Statement on Digital Securities: Public Consultation

Public Consultation: The Issuance and Transfer of Digital Securities Under English Private Law

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 are asking experts and members of the public to provide their input into the questions that the proposed Legal Statement on Digital Securities can 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*.

Public Consultation Event Details

This event has now passed.

The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) of LawtechUK invites you to attend the Public Consultation event on the Legal Statement on Digital Securities.

The Legal Statement will address the issuance and transfer of equity or debt securities using a system deploying blockchain or DLT under English law.

The event will gather together representatives of the Legal, Financial and Digital sectors, as well as academics, regulators and other interested parties to collect views on the proposed Statement through a town hall session and 1:1 discussions.

There will also be a presentation that will examine the economic value of English Law being the choice law for digital securities.

Review the questions to be addressed in the Legal Statement on Digital Securities here.

When | 21st November 2022

Where | One Moorgate Place 1 Moorgate Place London EC2R 6EA

Register to the public consultation >

How to Submit Your Views

We invite you to share your views with the drafting team by:

making a submission to UKJT@justice.gov.uk,
or to the LawtechUK team via lawtechuk@technation.io.

The consultation closes 30th November 2022.

View the consultation paper.

About the UKJT

The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) is an industry-led initiative of LawtechUK, tasked with promoting the use of English law and UK jurisdiction for technology and digital innovation. We provide data-driven and market-informed outputs ranging from public events and expert roundtables to research and publications.