Mann on Cryptocurrency

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the legal nature of lex monetae in order to establish what control rights a non-state creator of a crypto-payment token which is accepted by a state might have over the circulation of that token after it passes into currency. This analysis draws heavily on FA Mann’s work on exchange controls, and his consideration of the basis for their recognition by courts other than the courts of the monetary sovereign. It concludes that there can be no private lex monetae and that existing private law doctrines do not provide a basis for the recognition of such control rights.