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Matt Green co-authors article on crypto-asset recovery for Oxford Law Pro’s Expert Essentials, Oxford University Press

Posted on: May 28th, 2025 by Natasha Cox

Writing for peer reviewed Oxford Law Pro’s Expert Essentials, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets Matt Green and Outer Temple Chambers’ barrister Henry Reid provide a practical guide on the recovery of misappropriated crypto-assets.

Matt and Henry’s article was published in Oxford Law Pro, 14 May 2025, and can be found here.

Following the $1m loss of the stablecoin Tether, Matt and Henry explore the practical issues of asset recovery – including the use of blockchain analytics reports, dealing with crypto exchanges and pursuing persons unknown – as well as the legal considerations.

The article begins by discussing an example of a scam in which the claimants transfer one million Tether to persons unknown, considering the movement of these assets across the blockchain and their subsequent deposit at crypto exchanges. 

Matt and Henry then analyse the viability of potential legal proceedings, discussing potential routes to recover the misappropriated assets, and outline how to approach cryptocurrency exchanges at a pre-action stage.

Their article concludes with a narrative on preparing an ex parte application against these persons unknown, as well as seeking a worldwide freezing injunction to prevent the dissipation of the stolen crypto and seeking disclosure from the crypto exchanges to identify customers who have received the traceable proceeds.

How to navigate the first 72 hours of a ransomware attack and recover ransoms paid in crypto

Posted on: May 23rd, 2025 by Alanah Lenten

Dominic and Asim’s article was published in Fraud Intelligence, 21 May 2025, and can be found here.

Discovering that you have been the victim of a ransomware attack can be reputationally and financially devastating to an organisation. However, when responding to an attack, the first 72-hours are critical. Quick and decisive action can help preserve evidence, while protecting assets and systems.

Cyber attacks vary in their potency and impact. A ransomware attack which locks down a company’s entire IT system is, of course, different from a more limited attack on a single device – an organisation’s response will therefore vary. However, notifying your insurers and the police, getting internal and external IT support on task immediately, while also notifying company staff should all be considered.

Where data is at risk, notifying the Information Commissioner and other regulators within 72 hours – as well as your customers – can also be necessary.

Should you pay the ransom?

Current guidance from the National Crime Agency is that they do not “encourage endorse nor condone the payment of ransom demands”. This is because there is no guarantee that you will get access to your data or computer, your computer may still be infected, you will be paying a criminal group, and you increase the likelihood that you (and others) may be targeted in the future.

However, in many cases, commercial victims of a ransomware attack can find themselves unable to continue their business operations whilst key systems remain compromised. This is the hacker’s leverage, that, there may come a point where continued business losses are unsustainable and paying a ransom to unlock their systems becomes an expense in mitigation.

Such ransom payments are often demanded in cryptocurrency and their payment can be covered by insurance. It is important that businesses check their policies to see whether this forms part of their cover.

How to prepare?

Given the number of moving parts involved in managing the aftermath after a ransomware event, it can quickly become overwhelming, unless robust and specific plans are already in place. Such ‘incident response plans’ should already be agreed and understood by the company’s leadership and those staff who will need to take action. Running simulations of how a business will cope during a ransomware attack is advisable (e.g. turning to paper processes in the short term and ensuring that all know what their roles are during an attack).

Backing up your systems on a regular basis and training staff  to recognise unusual behaviour or unexpected activity on their devices is critical – for example, phishing emails, unprompted windows opening up for split seconds, or excessive system resources being used when your device does not appear to be doing much. This can suggest that scammers have taken remote control of your device under the pretence of assisting you through services, like AnyDesk.

How to react?

While you are reacting to the consequences of the breach, you may simultaneously have to identify and fix the vulnerability, comply with legal and regulatory requirements, notify your insurers and provide comfort to your staff, customers and suppliers that matters are in hand. During this period, chaos can ensue, and mistakes can be made that could severely hamper any subsequent investigation.

Below are some key points to bear in mind during this initial period:

Preserve the evidence

The preservation of evidence is a key initial task, and leadership should strive to work with professionals to ensure that all system logs are retained. It is advisable to hire in digital forensics or organisations that specialise in dealing with cyberattacks –if you have good cyber insurance, this is something your insurer may provide.

Avoid formatting or performing factory resets at this stage. Evidence preservation is vital, particularly as forensic digital examination of your devices could yield critical information, instrumental in tracing and recovering the stolen assets.

If possible, take a full forensic image of the affected devices and work from backups (provided these have not also been compromised by the attack). You may need to buy fresh devices so that those affected can be preserved as evidence.

Your internal communications team may want to take on PR consultants to assist with crisis comms as the news breaks, if it is an attack with significant reputational implications.

Secure Your Communications

It may be wise to set up new, secure email addresses immediately and avoid logging into any accounts you suspect may have been compromised. You should consider how best to continue internal communications with secure channels being set up to action any critical messaging

It may be necessary to notify your bank and or other service providers of any new email address, or communication preferences, to ensure that no instructions are to be taken from the old email addresses.

In attacks where the victims have been socially engineered, one or more company email addresses or social media accounts may have been compromised. You should access the log-in history which details the IP address and location of all log-in attempts.

If there are any suspicious logins, it is likely that email addresses have been compromised, and your communications may be monitored or used by the scammers to gain further access. This could also impact other accounts, bank accounts and social media profiles.

It is vital that passwords are immediately changed and strengthened across the organisation.

Communicating with the Hackers

When the hackers reach out to demand a ransom payment from you ensure that they are unaware of the steps you are taking internally.

Ransom payment negotiators are available to assist with these negotiations to drive the ransom demanded down. This can also buy an organisation time if the hacker is threatening to publish the compromised data on the internet.

Make sure to collate a detailed record of all communications with the hackers, including requests for payments, emails, phone calls, text messages, social media interactions. If the ransom is paid in crypto, take a note of the transaction details, wallet addresses and transaction hashes etc.

If you have been directed to a webpage during your interactions with the hackers, you should ensure to take screenshots of these pages in case they disappear. Any evidence of what jurisdiction they may be in is also vital.

Accurate records are crucial for any subsequent legal action and investigations.

Recovering the ransom payment

If the ransom is paid in crypto, this could give you and your legal team time to investigate and trace the assets, write to any centralised exchanges who may be in receipt of those assets, and put them on notice of the theft and request that they freeze those accounts pending further legal action. It may also allow time for the necessary court orders to freeze assets to be granted and implemented. These steps, if taken quickly, can result in an organisation (or their insurer) recovering the ransom after it has been paid.

Your legal team will quickly be able to identify suitable independent blockchain tracing specialists who will be tasked with conducting an initial tracing report to follow the movement of your crypto assets and their traceable proceeds. You will need to provide proof that you owned the assets, as well as relevant transaction hashes or addresses as these will form the basis of asserting your proprietary claim to those assets, which is essential in recovering them.

Hackers typically seek to convert stolen crypto assets into cash, often using centralised exchanges as their off-ramp. The first step in any successful crypto asset recovery matter is identifying the exchanges used. Exchanges are subject to a degree of regulatory oversight and compliance mechanisms to satisfy the requirements of typically highly regulated banking entities.

Your legal team can place exchanges on notice that they have received the proceeds of crime and request they freeze the relevant accounts while also requesting disclosure of any onward transfers and withdrawals from that account to trace the stolen assets.

Report to Law Enforcement

The attack should be reported to the police and Action Fraud. Make sure you keep a copy of your report, as well as any crime reference numbers provided.

It is important that you engage with your local police force as much as possible and obtain a direct liaison and contact details. Try not to be discouraged or frustrated if the police cannot offer much help.

Police resources, expertise, and capacity to deal with cyber crime can vary considerably, and officers may lack immediate familiarity with the complexities involved.

Even if the police can’t provide much assistance, a formal report is important, as it creates an official record that supports other legal and recovery actions you may take and can also assist law enforcement in identifying patterns in criminal gangs to help others avoid falling victim.

Engage with Experts

Engaging promptly with specialist IT and legal advisors experienced in breach response is crucial to mitigate the fallout from the attack and limit business interruption.

Cyber experts should be able to quickly identify the areas of your system that have been affected, the extent of the breach and the data under threat, as well as devise a plan for bringing your systems back into operation. It may be possible to decrypt some of the compromised data without paying the ransom, or to restore your systems from backups.

Your legal team should work closely with these experts to ensure that your regulators are notified of the attack and kept abreast of developments. Your legal team may also need to review your company’s commercial agreements, to see if any termination or notification events are triggered as well as deal with any claims that might arise from your suppliers or customers as a result of the attack.

Conclusion

Careful advanced planning and swift and methodical action when an attack occurs can reduce stress, while also significantly limiting the damage a ransomware attack can cause to an organisation in the first 72 hours.

Crypto recovery – navigating the first 72 hours

Posted on: May 23rd, 2025 by Natasha Cox

When a person goes missing, the first 72-hours are mission critical.

The same urgency applies if you have been hacked, scammed or are the victim of a theft- even more so if the loss are crypto assets. Quick and decisive action in the immediate hours will significantly mitigate the risk of those assets being obfuscated and dissipated and assist with recovery.

Crypto scammers are particularly ruthless, often deploying all manner of sophisticated tactics. From straightforward account compromises and theft with no direct interaction, to elaborate social engineering, often gaining trust through dating websites, fake investment platforms, or social media, their ultimate aim is to deprive a rightful owner of crypto assets.

Discovering that you have been the victim, regardless of the methodology used, can be emotionally draining as well as financially devastating. Clarity of thought and rational action can often give way to absentmindedness. This can lead to victims continuing to pay the bad actors, or fake recovery firms who are one and the same.

In the circumstances this is entirely understandable.

The appropriate next steps can vary depending on the specific circumstances, however our recommended action plan is detailed below and applies to most scenarios:

  1. Secure your communications

Often, particularly in cases where victims have been socially engineered, your email addresses and social media accounts will likely have been compromised as the result of the hack.

Most mainstream email providers will allow you to see a log-in history which details the IP address and location of all log-in attempts. Consider if any are unrecognisable.

If there are any suspicious log-ins, it is likely that your email address has been compromised and your communications may be monitored by the scammers. This could also impact other personal and financial accounts linked to your email, such as online shopping accounts, bank accounts and social media profiles. Credit ratings and access to future baking facilities may also be affected.

In this case, it is vital that you immediately change the password for your email, and then for all other accounts held online.

In addition, we recommend that you set up a new, secure email address immediately and avoid logging into any accounts you suspect may have compromised. You should divert any personal and critical emails to your new account, and ensure that you update your email address across your online shopping, social media and bank accounts.

It is important that you notify your bank and or cryptocurrency exchange of your new email address, which replaces the old one, and ensure to communicate that no instructions are to be taken from the old email address.

  1. Cease communications strategically

In cases where scammers have maintained prolonged contact, they may continue to reach out to you. Let them remain unaware you know this is a fraudulent scheme. If they know that you are aware, there is a heightened risk that they will take steps to obfuscate their trail and dissipate assets, which can make asset recovery more complicated.

If you can, you should look to cease communication strategically without encouraging further interaction. One approach might be to indicate you will be unavailable or away for a few weeks. This will hopefully give you and your legal team time to investigate and trace the assets, write to any centralised exchanges who may be in receipt of those assets, and put them on notice of the theft and request that they freeze those accounts pending further legal action.

In short, the longer the scammers believe that their scam is undetected, the better.

You should then immediately begin collating a detailed record of all previous communications, including requests for payments, emails, phone calls, text messages, social media interactions, transaction details, wallet addresses and transaction hashes etc. Accurate records are crucial for any subsequent legal action and investigations. If you have been directed to a webpage during your interactions with the scammers, you should ensure to take screenshots of these pages in case they disappear.

Evidence of what jurisdiction they may be in is also vital. For example, note of their telephone number and dialling code (e.g. +44 for UK) or mention of a registered office (even if untrue) will help dramatically.

  1. Report to law enforcement

As soon as possible, you should report the theft to the police and Action Fraud – or equivalent law enforcement agencies. Make sure you keep a copy of your report, as well as any crime reference numbers provided.

It is important that you engage with your local police force as much as possible, and obtain a direct liaison and contact details. Action Fraud is only a database, and your query will not progress unless the police investigate.

Try not be discouraged or frustrated if the police cannot offer much help. Police resources, expertise, and capacity to deal with crypto related crimes can vary considerably, and officers may lack immediate familiarity with blockchain technology, or the complexities involved

Even if the police are unable to offer much direct assistance, formally reporting the incident is a crucial step as it creates an official record that supports any subsequent legal and recovery actions you may take with the support of your legal team.

  1. Device management and evidence preservation

Given that so much of our lives are conducted online and contained within personal devices such as laptops and mobile phones, it is crucial to exercise heightened caution if these devices may have been compromised.

If you notice unusual behaviour or unexpected activity on your devices (for example, unprompted command prompt windows opening up for split seconds, or excessive system resources being used when your device does not appear to be doing much) then this may be an indication your device may be compromised.

This is more likely if the scammers have previously taken remote control of your device under the pretence of assisting you through services, like AnyDesk.

As tempting as it may be, avoid formatting or performing factory resets at this stage. Evidence preservation is vital, particularly as forensic digital examination of your devices could yield critical information, instrumental in tracing and recovering the stolen assets. Formatting or resetting the device risks destroying potentially valuable evidence which often indicates the attack vectors used by the scammers and can be a useful part of the puzzle in identifying who they may be.

If your budget permits, obtaining new, uncompromised devices for interim use is recommended.

  1. Secure remaining cryptoassets

It may be that the scammers have only targeted or been able to target specific parts of your crypto holdings. However, if your devices or email/social media accounts have been compromised, it is likely they know much more than you think – including what centralised exchange accounts and wallet addresses you have that they may wish to target next.

As such, you should immediately access and review all centralised exchange accounts you may hold online, and cold storage where applicable. Update your details held at these accounts, including email, contact information and passwords.

It is also crucial to strengthen your two-factor authentication and carefully review transactions to identify any activity you do not recognise which may be indicative of that account being compromised.

If you are holding any assets on these accounts, consider creating new, secure self custodial wallets on uncompromised devices and transferring remaining assets between multiple wallets.

If you have previously staked assets, check to see whether these remain staked or have been unstaked without your knowledge and are in any cooldown period. If unstaking has been initiated, try to take steps to ensure the unstaked assets can immediately be sent to your new, secure wallets as soon as possible.

  1. Engage with experts

Engaging promptly with specialist lawyers experienced in crypto asset disputes, particularly asset tracing on blockchains and recovery, can be vital ensuring the swift tracing and recovery of your assets.

Your legal team will quickly be able to identify suitable independent blockchain tracing specialists who will be tasked with conducting an initial tracing report to follow the movement of your crypto assets and their traceable proceeds. You will need to provide proof that you owned the assets (such as statements) as well as relevant transaction hashes or addresses as this will form the basis of asserting your proprietary claim to those assets. This is essential in recovering such assets.

Scammers typically seek to convert stolen crypto assets into cash, often using centralised exchanges as their off-ramp. The first step in any successful crypto asset recovery matter is identifying the exchanges used. These exchanges will have established payment rails which allow them to enable the transfer of fiat funds and are crucial to their business operations. 

As these payment rails exist within a regulated environment, banks must be comfortable with the funds handled by these exchanges. Consequently, exchanges are subject to a degree of regulatory oversight and compliance mechanisms to satisfy the requirements of typically highly regulated banking entities.

Once an investigator can identify exchanges which have received the stolen assets, your legal team should then enter into dialogue to place them on notice that they have received the proceeds of crime and request they take specific actions. These include freezing the relevant accounts to secure any assets held within, as well as requesting disclosure of any onward transfers and withdrawals from that account which can be used to further trace the stolen assets with a view to recovery.

This draws a line in the sand – the exchange is now aware of the issue and any funds held at or subsequently deposited at that account must now be frozen.

  1. Seek emotional support

Recognising that you have fallen victim to a scam can trigger intense emotional distress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation. It is important to recognise you are not alone and that these feelings, while overwhelming, are a common response to what can be a very personal breach of privacy, trust and security.

If you find yourself in such a position, consider reaching out to supportive friends and family. Whilst there are also online communities offering support to victims, you should treat these with caution, as these can present attractive hunting grounds for scammers seeking to exploit those at their most vulnerable.

If you find your emotional state severely impacted or you are feeling persistent low, anxious or overwhelmed, it is essential to seek professional medical or mental health support.

As outlined above, acting quickly and methodically within the immediate hours and days after discovering a scam or can significantly improve the prospects of recovery and limit the broader financial and emotional damage.

For more information on our services relating to technology disputes, please click here. For our cryptoassets services, please click here

Matt Green discusses UK crypto innovation and regulation in The Times

Posted on: April 24th, 2025 by Natasha Cox

Writing in The Times, Director and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets, Matt Green, argues that the UK government needs to adopt a clear big picture strategy on implementing blockchain technology if it is to maintain parity with competitors.
 
Matt’s article follows a recent letter he co-signed as chair of techUK’s Blockchain and Digital Assets working group, alongside a coalition of leading UK and global trade bodies in the crypto sector to the UK government urging them to advance its digital asset and blockchain policy.

Matt’s article was published in The Times, 24 April 2025, and can be found here.

Government must urgently delivery regulatory clarity for cryptoassets

It is roughly six months since the digital assets industry called on the Labour government to provide urgent “regulatory clarity” at the party’s annual conference. The then economic secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq, responded by confirming the government’s commitment to fostering innovation in financial services, but there is little meat on the bone.

It has also been three years since the previous government’s plan to make the UK a global cryptoasset technology hub. This ambiguity serves no one.

Helpfully, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has since published key dates in a ‘crypto roadmap’ that details the development of comprehensive regulatory framework for the UK. Draft legal provisions are expected soon, with a series of consultation papers examining how the future regime will work and its content – such as stronger regulation for capital, liquidity and risk management of cryptoassets – to come. The roadmap anticipates that the rules will take effect late next year.

While that is welcome, the UK needs clarity and momentum to boost investment, growth and jobs, and to avoid falling behind competitors such as Singapore, the UAE or the US in technology investment and innovation. If the government is serious about making crypto a strategic priority, it should mirror the US by appointing a crypto special envoy – President Trump has appointed David Sacks, the former senior executive at PayPal, to that role.

The UK desperately needs a comparable appointee who can drive policy alignment, assimilate industry innovation and ensure that regulation and legislation are formulated and drafted with the UK’s best interests.

Our government also needs a plan that will focus on identifying opportunities and attracting investment. These could include an incentivisation programme to attract businesses with significant potential, explore elements of public sector integration and create a competitive tax and investment landscape.

Recognising the symbiosis of blockchain, artificial intelligence and quantum computing and their potential value is vital, both for preparing future regulatory frameworks, and considering use in daily life. Ultimately, this will improve efficiency for a swathe of crucial public services. Consider how the Land Registry and Companies House could hold important documents on the blockchain to simplify and accelerate property and share transfers. Key government procurement contracts and transmission of NHS data could also be transformed. 

According to the FCA, 12 per cent of UK adults – about 7 million people – owned cryptoassets last year. In contrast, according to the most recent data, only 8 per cent of global venture capital funding went into UK firms that specialise in that field, while the US dominates with 76%.

A clear direction, guided by a singular politically and sector agnostic driver, and with clear regulatory framework, could transform the UK economy for decades to come.

 

 

Matt Green co-signs letter to UK government promoting innovation in the digital asset sector

Posted on: April 10th, 2025 by Natasha Cox

Director and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets, Matt Green, recently co-signed a letter to the UK government alongside a coalition of leading UK and global trade bodies in the crypto digital assets sector, on behalf of techUK.

Addressed to Varun Chandra, the Prime Minister’s Special Adviser on Business & Investment, the letter cites recent geo-political events as key reasons as to why the UK should continue to advance its digital asset and blockchain policy to ensure that it becomes a premier jurisdiction for crypto investment and innovation.

Matt and his fellow signatories put forward a number of practical recommendations to the government, including the following:

  • Appointing a ‘blockchain’ special envoy to drive policy alignment and innovation
  • Developing a Government Action Plan for digital assets and blockchain technology
  • Recognising the synergy between blockchain, quantum computing, and AI
  • Establishing a high-level forum for industry-government-regulator engagement

Click here to read their letter in full.

This news was covered by The Times, CoinTelegraph, Binance, Digit News, Finextra, Crypto News, Bloomingbit, Tron Weekly,  FX Street, Trading View and Block Weeks.

For more information on our Blockchain and Digital Assets services, click here

Matt Green provides insights on bitcoin recovery to Thomson Reuters

Posted on: January 27th, 2025 by Hugh Dineen-Lees

In a recent article published by Thomson Reuters, Matt Green, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets, explores the topic of recovering lost Bitcoin. Alongside his co-authors, Brian Mondoh, Barrister at Titan Chambers, and Marcin Zarakowski CEO of Token Recovery, Matt addresses the common belief that Bitcoin is a decentralized network and explains how recent developments have made it possible to recover lost Bitcoin assets.

The article highlights two primary scenarios for losing Bitcoin: theft or scam, and losing access to private keys or seed phrases. They delve into the Digital Asset Recovery (DAR) process on the BSV blockchain, which allows for the reassignment of lost or stolen digital coins through valid court orders.

By ensuring compliance with court orders, the BSV network can freeze and reassign assets to their rightful owners, making the recovery process more efficient and cost-effective.

Read the full article here.

Matt Green presents evidence to Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill Special Public Bill Committee

Posted on: January 23rd, 2025 by Hugh Dineen-Lees

Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets, Matt Green, recently submitted evidence to the House of Lords Special Public Bill Committee on the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill. 

Matt argued that the Bill is both necessary and effective. He suggests that legislation, as opposed to common law, would provide the judiciary and policy makers with the confidence to apply property right principles to a new asset class – which is vital for consumers and financial institutions who are increasingly reliant on digital assets. Matt further argues that the Bill prescribes a negative definition which allows for things not yet created or not easily defined as capable of inclusion – providing additional flexibility to policymakers.

He notes that the Bill is a response to nervousness in the judiciary in deviating with established definitions of property, and that the wording is the door ajar to give decision makers the freedom to create new asset classes where required, without falling foul of common law principles.   

Discussing the Bill’s potential for negative or unexpected consequences, Matt warns that the wide wording of the Bill may open the floodgates and policy must therefore be carefully considered and robustly drafted. He also notes that monitoring the benefits and drawbacks of the Bill must be considered on an ad hoc basis by policy makers, to prevent any unexpected consequences.

In all, he senses that although there are more pressing matters at law, including (i) liability of decentralised entities, and liability of coders/ software developers (ii) regulation of digital assets, and the rules of engagement and (iii) the effectiveness of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (2023), the Bill, of a version of it, must be passed to give confidence to the market and to show this jurisdiction is taking digital assets seriously.

In relation to improving the Bill, Matt argues as to why the chosen thing should be an object of personal property rights – suggesting it may be considered as heavy handed. He also notes that it may be useful to include some non-determinative wording as part of this legislation to help guide decision makers when considering property rights.

Click here to read Matt’s evidence in full.

Matt Green comments on the rise of Big Tech lawsuits in CDR Magazine

Posted on: January 7th, 2025 by Natasha Cox

Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets and Technology Disputes Matt Green comments on the rise in litigation against Big Tech companies, and explores how regulation must adapt to provide better protection and recourse for consumers.

Matt’s comments were published in CDR Magazine, 6 January 2025.

“There have been very few useful regulatory protections for consumers, although attempts have been made under financial promotions regimes.

“There is a severe lack of protections for consumers broadly when dealing with crypto assets, particularly at retail exchanges. Under recent case law, the trend is to treat crypto exchanges like banks, which themselves are governed following hundreds of years of banking law with consumer protection in place. 

“However, these laws cannot be applied to crypto exchanges given technical and operational differences. On that basis, crypto exchanges are given wide protections for how they custody and pool assets (tilting in favour of their own interests), but consumers are left without recourse where those exchanges are unwilling to help.”

For more inforamtion on our regulatory services and crypto practice, please click here

Matt Green co-authors chapter of The Founders’ Guide to UK Crypto Law

Posted on: December 16th, 2024 by Natasha Cox

Matt Green, Director and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Lawrence Stephens has contributed to the launch of a new guide, The Founders’ Guide to UK Crypto Law by Lisa McClory, Digital Technologies Lead at D2 Legal Technology, an award-winning legal data consulting firm.

Matt’s co-author is Marcin Zarakowski, CEO of Token Recovery. In their chapter on ‘Tracing, Freezing and Recovery – when crypto assets are stolen‘, they explain the risks, and the legal procedures available to those affected.

The publication came about through the recognition of the urgent need for some solid and practical guidance for projects looking to start out in the Web3 space (the concept emphasising personal data ownership and the use of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies).

The guide brings together many of the top experts in the area to deliver on this objective. It is intended as a starting point for Web3 builders and entrepreneurs in the UK. The guide acknowledges the important role that law and regulation play and seeks to assist projects in overcoming uncertainty, avoid pitfalls and generally equip the reader with the essential knowledge to empower and catalyse their ideas.

To read the guide please follow the link: The Founder’s Guide to UK.pdf – Google Drive

Matt Green to present expert evidence to House of Lords on Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill

Posted on: December 2nd, 2024 by Natasha Cox

Matt Green, Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets will be giving evidence to the House of Lords in the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill this Thursday.

The bill is designed to ensure new asset classes aren’t prevented from being the subject of property rights if they do not fall neatly into the relevant two categories under common law.

As the Chair of techUK’s Digital Asset Working Group, Matt will be giving expert evidence on the impact of this legislation.

You can view the livestream of Matt’s appearance from 11.30am on Thursday 5 December by clicking here.

 

Matt Green comments on the Digital Assets Bill in eprivateclient

Posted on: November 18th, 2024 by Hugh Dineen-Lees

Director and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets Matt Green comments on the introduction of the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill, and argues that this legislation will provide greater clarity to the treatment of cryptocurrencies and digital assets under UK law.

Matt’s comments were published in eprivateclient, 15 November 2024, and can be found here.

“Property rights allow individuals to identify and demarcate ownership. In turn, being deprived of property creates a right in either damages or for that exact property to be owed. This ensures there’s greater market confidence when dealing with property, as there are clearer legal rights to ownership, control and general treatment of that property.”

“Historically property fell into two main categories – things that are tangible and exist physically or a contractual right enforced by a legal system (such as a debt claim or contractual right to goods). Digital assets (including cryptocurrencies, digital files and records, email accounts and certain in-game digital assets, domain names, even verified carbon credits) do not fall neatly into either category.”

“Use of a negative definition as proposed in the Digital Assets Bill, future proofs how property is treated, preventing the need to return to the issue for decades to come. To give an exhaustive list of what property is limits what may or may not exist going forward, so the wording is designed to ensure policymakers and the public at large are given that freedom to treat “things” as property when required, as well as the ability to sensibly divert from the rigid definition of property when required.”

“Although a welcome change for a legal system previously often unequipped to deal with such matters, enabling a “thing” to be property even where it is not tangible or creates a legal right may create inconsistencies at common law given the broad strokes definition. However the benefit of future proofing far outweighs the potential for inconsistencies and the Law Commission included guidelines as to what may constitute property under this Bill to assist decision makers.”

“As more “things” become property at a legal level, we may see the implementation of further laws, or even Judge’s decisions, which sweep up any unanswered issues. Overall, this Bill is a huge win for those dealing in digital assets, providing much needed clarity in an economy already utilising this technology at large.”