NFTs and Access to Justice

Abstract

This chapter examines the potential of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as an instrument to enhance access to justice, highlighting the necessity for judicial and legislative innovation to accommodate them into existing legal frameworks. We analyze two instances of such innovations: judicial adaptations in the Anglo-American legal systems that recognize NFTs as a tool to improve access to justice from both a procedural and substantive perspective and legislative measures in the European Union that incorporate NFTs into regulatory schemes, potentially improving substantive justice access to justice. Our findings suggest that while judicial creativity has played a crucial role in advancing justice in the discussed cases, it is insufficient on its own. Comprehensive legislative reforms are essential, and this requires regulators to be more attendant to market developments, specifically in the field of legal tech, and mechanisms need to be developed to reduce information asymmetries. In designing any new legislative scheme for crypto-assets, access to justice should be a key consideration in mitigating the risks of this new technology.