Mapping Grey Areas in International Legal Approaches to The Failure of Crypto Firms
If a crypto exchange or crypto investment fails what happens next?
Recent years have seen cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin grow in popularity and many exchanges have developed to enable trading in crypto. Yet there are still many grey areas about how cryptocurrencies and some exchanges operate.
One area of uncertainty is what will happen if a cryptocurrency or an exchange runs out of money and becomes insolvent. These are international businesses and rules about where insolvencies are handled can have impacts on what customers of exchanges and investors in cryptocurrencies receive.
This website supports a research network that will look at these issues. Featuring experts from diverse backgrounds and 17 countries we will investigate the grey areas that might arise if a crypto business was to fail. Recognising that there are high levels of interest and investment in crypto in developing and emerging countries we will have a majority of representatives from those countries.
What do we know about crypto insolvencies?
There have been many high-profile failures of crypto businesses. What happens in the event of an insolvency can be surprising as we might think that a company is from one place and find that its insolvency has handled in another place. We might not have any clear idea where a crypto exchange or cryptocurrency operates, let alone have any idea where an insolvency could take place.
Why does this matter?
Because the choice of where an insolvency takes place can have a significant impact on what then happens, as well as what creditors, such as customers, can expect to receive.
