Re Gatecoin Limited (Gatecoin) is a landmark decision concerning the winding-up of a cryptocurrency exchange.

Background

Liquidators secured over 50 types of cryptocurrencies with an aggregate value of over HK$140m. To aid the liquidator’s allocation of the seized cryptocurrencies, the Court of First Instance decided two key issues.

Decision

The court held that:

The Insolvency (Cross Border Insolvencies) Regulations 2014 (“the ICBIR”) provides an effective mechanism for dealing with cases of cross-border insolvency. It gives effect to the provisions of the UNICITRAL Model Law and also the EC Insolvency Regulations, which Gibraltar continues to apply in full even post Brexit.

It is no secret anymore that the MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) is coming. But why is this important for insolvency practitioners and clients? This update aims to give an answer to this question and to provide an outlook on how the German legislator plans to implement these principles.

This Part of the 2023 edition of R+I In Brief provides key industry and sector insights relating to the restructuring space over the past year. These hot topics include:

Until recently, the nature of ownership of assets on deposit with a third party was not controversial. If a local bank branch goes bankrupt, the cash or other assets deposited with the bank belonged to individual depositors/customers, safely out of the reach of the bank’s creditors, reinforced by numerous federal and state regulations, and bankruptcy case law.

But what happens if the asset that’s been deposited is cryptocurrency, held by a third-party, non-bank custodian?

TABLE OF CONTENTS SOLVENCY II EIOPA INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION DIRECTIVE (IDD) PRIIPS CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING (AML) AND COUNTERING THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM (CFT) DATA PROTECTION FINANCIAL SANCTIONS SUSTAINABILITY MISCELLANEOUS Insurance | Quarterly Legal and Regulatory Update | 1 April 2023 – 30 June 2023 © 2023 Dillon Eustace LLP. All rights reserved. 2 11723734v1 1.

Whilst AI is leading the agenda when it comes to the future of technology, fintech still remains the ace in the pack for investors. In fact, fintech businesses contribute more than £10 billion to the UK economy every year – supporting 76,000 jobs.

Fintechs also tend to outperform firms in other sectors too, with an annualised growth rate of 16% over the past decade, against 1.3% for the average SME.

On 8 March 2023, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands appointed Joint Provisional Liquidators (“JPLs”) over Atom Holdings (the “Company”), a Cayman incorporated holding company for the Atom Group, which operated a cryptocurrency exchange via an online platform known as AAX (Atom Asset Exchange).

Investing in or acquiring distressed assets can be a lucrative investment strategy for those with a healthy risk appetite and a roadmap for sourcing and evaluating quality assets.

Following a steep run-up in crypto asset prices and valuations of crypto-adjacent businesses in the last two years, there has been a sharp increase in companies and assets in the space looking at deeply distressed valuations, liquidity crunches or formal insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings.

ne in three of us own crypto currencies, crypto ownership is estimated to have doubled in the UK last year – and two of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges face lawsuits from the securities regulator, the SEC, in the US. Three statistics from the FT this week that put warnings from the UK’s financial regulator – that crypto is largely unregulated and high risk, and investors should be prepared to lose all their money – into context. The FCA noted that it is up to consumers to decide whether to buy crypto, but that many regret making a hasty decision.