Blockchain Papers

Nico Bilski

No abstract is available for this record.

Богдановс, Элвийс,

Relevance of the topic. Over the past four years, cryptocurrency as means of alternative payment have increased significantly, the successful market capitalization of the bitcoin, which currently stands at 138,237,195,020 EUR, indicates that the cryptocurrency can be considered an addition to 21 century financial instruments. Despite the unstable value of the cryptocurrency, bitcoin serves as a gateway between the financial markets of cryptocurrencies and the usual financial market for us. In this regard, at the moment there is a tendency to carry out transactions for movable or immovable property using cryptocurrency to reduce the number of taxes. And to rapidly transform financial asset types. A Cryptocurrencies come with secured layer of anonymity, decentralization of financial assets and without controlling authorities. Thus, crimes become more innovative and making investigation process more complicating. The thesis includes existing enterprises that have introduced cryptocurrency as a method of payment, as well as a possible scenario where the financing of political parties and organizations is made using cryptocurrency, allowing illegally exceed the permitted funding. The risks of malicious insolvency are considered. The thesis deals with the insolvency process, which was considered in the arbitration court of the Russian Federation in thesis the conclusion part has comparison between the jurisprudence relating to cryptocurrency in the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania. The results of the study led to the following conclusions: despite the decisions of the court of justice of the European Union, supervising financial institutions need to develop means of controlling the cryptocurrency to reduce the illegal political party, the legalization of funds obtained by criminal means, and other processes that allow individuals to hide the true volume and purpose of financial transactions.

Robert Wilkens, Richard Falk

No abstract is available for this record.

Bettina Mielke, Christian Wolff

No abstract is available for this record.

Hans Caspar Von der Crone, Merens Derungs

Shares issued on a distributed ledger have already been designated as a future market standard. The potential of these dlt-shares is also acknowledged by the Swiss government, which has published a preliminary draft on the adaptation of federal law to developments in distributed ledger technology earlier this year. This essay focuses on various mainly private law issues related to the issuance…

Rolf Knieper

No abstract is available for this record.

Andreas Vonkilch, Matthias Knoll

Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich mit dem Zusammenspiel von Kryptowährungen am Beispiel von Bitcoin und dem Sachenrecht des ABGB auseinander und geht dabei insbesondere folgenden Fragen nach: Kann an Bitcoins ein Eigentumsrecht im engeren Sinne erworben werden? Wie werden Bitcoins überhaupt rechtswirksam übertragen? Und können Bitcoins vom Nichtberechtigten gutgläubig erworben werden?

Anna Duke

Smart contracts—contracts written into lines of code that automatically execute all or parts of an agreement—are a relatively new technology, which has raised many questions regarding their validity and formation. This Comment looks at smart contracts under the lens of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and analyzes what its provisions have to say on the validity and formation of a contract. This analysis is written from the internationalist perspective, which favors applying the CISG to issues it addresses even in cases where domestic law might apply. Moreover, this Comment argues that a smart contract used as an international sales contract, which embodies an entire agreement within its code, is valid under the CISG because it can meet the formation requirements of the Convention. More specifically, such a contract can show some clear indication of the parties’ intent, and include an offer, an acceptance, and some sufficiently definite indication of the goods, price, and quantity. In addition, smart contracts have the potential to promote international trade, an outcome that is consistent with the goal of the Convention’s creation. The purpose of this analysis is to address legal issues unique to smart contracts and to reduce legal uncertainty by filling an interpretational gap regarding the CISG’s applicability to smart contracts.

Robert Wilkens, Richard Falk

No abstract is available for this record.

Florian Möslein

No abstract is available for this record.

Hubert W. Fuchs

No abstract is available for this record.

Roman Koller, Josef Kamphues

No abstract is available for this record.

Cathrin Hein, Wanja Wellbrock, Christoph Hein

No abstract is available for this record.

Philipp Koch

Zusammenfassung Digitale Einheiten auf der Grundlage der Blockchain-Technologie sind derzeit in aller Munde. Manche dieser Einheiten wie ihr prominentester Verterter, der Bitcoin, fungieren als private virtuelle Währung. Andere, die sog. Tokens, sollen dazu dienen, den Handel mit bestimmten Rechtspositionen, die in diesen Tokens repräsentiert werden, zu erleichtern. Der nachfolgende Beitrag klärt zunächst die technologischen und begrifflichen Grundlagen und entwickelt darauf aufbauend das Konzept der digitalen Verbriefung.

Matija Kontak

Ovaj rad razmatra pametne ugovore i nov način financiranja utemeljen na njima − inicijalnu ponudu kriptovaluta (ICO). Riječ je o novim načinima sklapanja i praćenja izvršenja ugovora koji su dobili na značaju pojavom blockchain tehnologije. U radu se razmatraju značajke pametnih ugovora iz pravne perspektive. Uzimaju se u obzir moguća rješenja pitanja prisilnosti izvršenja pametnih ugovora, promatra mogućnost primjene pametnih ugovora, iznose se uočeni nedostatci; praktični i pravni problemi. Posebno se ističe problem interpretacije normi u vezi s pametnim ugovorima uspoređujući ih s EDI-jem (electronic data interchange). Predstavlja se pravna regulacija koja je značajna za ugovore, s posebnim osvrtom na tzv. Howey test kao i djelovanje tržišnih regulatora i zakonodavaca u ovom području, promatra se fenomen inicijalne ponude kriptovaluta (ICO) u kontekstu pravne regulacije. Prikazuje se kako djeluje tipičan ICO te što u pravnom smislu dobiju ulagači u ICO. Postoje brojni slučajevi prijevare ulagača vezanih uz ICO pa se razmatra reakcija nadležnih tijela. Prikazuje se evolucija ICO-a koji vremenom sve više nastoje legalizirati svoj status unutar postojećeg pravnog okvira. Iznosi se primjer Malte, prve zemlje koja je kodificirala ovo područje. Prikazuje se novonastala pravna industrija specijalizirana za ICO. Primijećeno je da fenomeni kriptovaluta, pametnih ugovora i ICO-a izazivaju zabrinutost vlasti i u pogledu terorizma, pranja novca i utaje poreza, zbog čega se može očekivati daljnja aktivnost zakonodavaca. Na kraju, ističe se moguća zaštita investitora od prijevare u vidu pravnog okvira zaštite potrošača u EU te primjer kriptovalute iz Hrvatske koja prikazuje prilike i opasnosti koje ove pojave donose.

Daniel Effer-Uhe

No abstract is available for this record.

Ute Bertram

No abstract is available for this record.

Dieter Martiny

No abstract is available for this record.

Florian Möslein

As a consequence of the blockchain revolution, a key challenge of our times is to identify the legal boundaries of smart contracts and thus to develop conflict rules for divergences between state law and technology-based code. Even if smart contracts are technologically self-executing, they are not necessarily legally enforceable. Rather, they must satisfy a variety of legal and contract law requirements. Two different levels of such rules can be differentiated, namely rules of recognition and substantive restrictions. At both levels, it emerges that either the lawmaker can intervene and introduce new, specific rules, or the judiciary can develop rules on the basis of existing and more general legal standards. For example, at the European level the Unfair Terms Directive and (in future) the Directive on Contracts for the Supply of Digital Content limit the potential scope of smart contracts. At national level, the rules on self-help constitute a crucial legal boundary. At least some applications of blockchain technology will be subject to these rules, strictly limiting their admissibility. Under German law, for instance, a waiver of the relevant provisions is largely excluded. In the case of cross-border situations, the comparative divergence of self-help rules will create legal uncertainty and may hinder the use of smart contracts.

Leonid Shmatenko, Stefan Möllenkamp

German Abstract: Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here.“ Dies proklamierte einst der amerikanische Poet und Freigeist John Perry Barlow, der als Mitbegrunder der NGO Electronic Frontier Foundation fur Rechte im digitalen Zeitalter und eine moglichst weitgehende Deregulierung des Internets eintrat. Digitale Phanomene wie Kryptowahrungen sind nur schwer den bestehenden Konzepten einer ursprunglich durch korperliche Gegenstande gepragten Rechtsordnung zu unterwerfen. Dieser Aufsatz versucht am Beispiel von Bitcoins diese Erscheinungen in bestehende zivilrechtliche Strukturen einzuordnen und zu klaren, ob der Gesetzgeber regulierend einschreiten sollte. Hierzu werden nach einer Einleitung zu Kryptowahrungen (I.) ihre Rechtsnatur (II.) und Behandlung i.R.d. Schuldrechts (III.) erortert. English Abstract: Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here. This was once proclaimed by the American poet and freethinker John Perry Barlow, who as co-founder of the NGO Electronic Frontier Foundation advocated rights in the digital age and the deregulation of the internet as far as possible. Digital phenomena such as cryptocurrencies are difficult to subordinate to existing concepts of a legal system originally shaped by physical objects. Using Bitcoins as an example, this article attempts to integrate these phenomena into existing civil law structures and to clarify whether the legislator should intervene to regulate them. After an introduction to cryptocurrencies (I.) their legal nature (II.) and treatment in the law of obligations (III.) are discussed.

Inge Graef, Damian Clifford, Peggy Valcke

... Recent years have shown a surge of interest from various enforcement agencies to remedy commercial behaviour exploiting the increasing information and power asymmetries between consumers and firms. What is particularly notable about this rise in attention is that enforcement actions demonstrate clear interactions between different legal fields that are traditionally applied and enforced in isolation. The present article will focus in particular on the growing interaction between competition, data protection, and consumer law. The Italian Competition, Communications and Data Protection Authority opened a joint ‘big data’ sector inquiry in May 2017 that not only aims to identify potential competition concerns but also to define ‘a regulatory framework able to foster competition in the markets of the digital economy, to protect privacy and consumers, and to promote pluralism within the digital ecosystem’.1 The Bundeskartellamt (German competition authority) announced its preliminary assessment in the Facebook competition investigation in December 2017, reaching the view that Facebook’s collection and use of data from third-party sources is abusive. According to the Bundeskartellamt, Facebook’s terms of service violate data protection provisions and thereby constitute abuse of dominance under competition law as well.2 On the basis of its new competence in the area of consumer protection,3 the Bundeskartellamt also opened two sector inquiries into online price comparison websites and smart TVs in October and December 2017, respectively. The sector inquiry into comparison websites aims to uncover possible violations of consumer law and to identify possible deficits in the enforcement of consumer rights that so far mainly takes place in individual private court proceedings.4 The sector inquiry into smart TVs investigates how producers of smart TVs handle user data. In particular, the Bundeskartellamt is looking to clarify to what extent smart TV manufacturers collect, use and pass on personal data, and whether individuals are appropriately informed of these practices in the contract terms.5

Mustapha Mekki

International audience

Thorsten Ammann

No abstract is available for this record.

Meisser, Luzius, Luzius Meisser, Ronald Kogens

We propose to use the terms Verfügungsmacht (power to dispose, analogous to possession) and Verfügungsrecht (right to dispose, analogous to ownership) to discern whom a Bitcoin belongs to in case of a bankruptcy. Using the example of Tezos, we demonstrate that the storage location of private keys alone does not suffice to meaningfully answer the question to whom the foundation's assets belong. Instead, the context and the contractual arrangement, from which the right to these assets can be derived, also need to be taken into account. This view provides a legal basis for the storage of Bitcoins on behalf of a client without taking them onto one's balance sheet, ensuring that the client's assets are not included in the bankruptcy estate. Furthermore, we classify the Internet currency Bitcoin as a rival, fictive, intangible asset sui generis and opine that there is a gap in the law regarding Aussonderung (removing an asset from the bankruptcy estate and returning it to the rightful owner) and Admassierung (adding an asset to the bankruptcy estate from a third party) of Bitcoins. Courts and bankruptcy administrators are encouraged to fill this gap in accordance with article 1 of the Swiss Civil Code when faced with Bitcoins in a bankruptcy case.