The crypto winter has brought a flurry of bankruptcy filings into the digital asset space. As pioneering cryptocurrency platforms collide with the Bankruptcy Code, unprecedented questions of law have left customers asking a fundamental question: who owns my crypto?
This question is especially prevalent in cases where the debtor company’s platform offered custodial accounts to customers. Digital asset custodial accounts have unusual attributes that have revealed cracks in customer protection when custodians have filed for bankruptcy.
A GLOBAL LEGAL MEDIA & NISHLIS LEGAL MARKETING PUBLICATION THE US-ISRAEL LEGAL REVIEW 2022 IN ASSOCIATION WITH: Israel’s Unicorn Success Story SNNOVATION The US-Israel Legal Review 2022 1 Contents THE US-ISRAEL LEGAL REVIEW 2022 2 WELCOME FROM THE PUBLISHERS Global Legal Media and Nishlis Legal Marketing 4 ECONOMIC HEADWINDS, A HOT WAR AND A TRADE WAR: THE IMPACT ON ISRAEL’S COMPANIES With rising interest rates, rising inflation and reduced growth forecasts, how has that reality been faced by corporate clients and start-ups? Arnon, Tadmor-Levy provide some answers.
The crypto winter has brought a flurry of bankruptcy filings into the digital asset space. As pioneering cryptocurrency platforms collide with the Bankruptcy Code, unprecedented questions of law have left customers asking a fundamental question: who owns my crypto?
This question is especially prevalent in cases where the debtor company’s platform offered custodial accounts to customers. Digital asset custodial accounts have unusual attributes that have revealed cracks in customer protection when custodians have filed for bankruptcy.
From television commercials to naming rights for arenas, the topic of cryptocurrency has been hard to avoid. While cryptocurrency may be virtual, its creation or ’mining’ occurs in the real world. This mining poses a credit risk for utility companies, given the incredible amount of electricity required to operate a “mining” facility. For example, crypto mining company Core Scientific, Inc. and its related companies, recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases where they reported their average monthly utility bills were more than $24.5 million dollars.
Demand for virtual currency services, including custody services, has soared in the past several years. Like their counterparts in traditional finance, these custodians are stewards of retail and institutional customer funds and serve an important and valuable function. However, as evidenced by a number of headline-grabbing failures during the lingering crypto winter, inadequate disclosures and poor custodial practices can seriously harm retail and institutional customers alike.
The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) held its annual International Wealth Structuring Forum in the Cayman Islands on 19 and 20 January 2023 at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. The forum was an opportunity for leading trust and wealth management professionals to gather and discuss the latest local and international developments impacting the industry. Hector Robinson KC and James Anson-Holland of Mourant attended the forum and have summarised the top three takeaways from the panel discussions.
The mercurial modern assets
The bankruptcy court presiding over the Chapter 11 cases of digital asset platform Celsius Network LLC and its affiliates (Celsius) issued a key ruling on January 4, 2023 (the Decision), by concluding that a significant portion of digital assets held in Celsius’ customer accounts are property of the debtors’ estates, and holders of such accounts accordingly are unsecured creditors.
The GCC Quarterly Review briefly summarises a selection of the major developments in the laws of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) in the third quarter of 2018, with links to further reading, where available.
A crash in the cryptocurrency industry started this past spring, causing a significant number of cryptocurrency exchanges and related entities to seek bankruptcy protection, including the recent filing of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX. The volatility in the industry continues, with the subsequent filing of the cryptocurrency firm BlockFi and the crypto-mining company Core Scientific.
Crypto Basics
Just weeks after the “implosion” of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, credit services provider BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 protection with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, indicating that it is burdened with billions of dollars of estimated liabilities and more than 100,000 creditors.