On 18 March 2024, the first day of the Paris Arbitration Week (“PAW”), the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary University of London and Université Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne held a joint conference on crypto assets and arbitration. The first roundtable, moderated by Professor Mathias Audit and Dr. Maria Fanou, provided a general introduction on…
The General Division of the High Court of the Republic of Singapore (“SGHC”) in the matter of Beltran, Julian Morena and another v. Terraform Labs Pte Ltd and others [2023] SGHC 340 recently dismissed an appeal against an Assistant Registrar’s decision denying a stay in favour of arbitration on the basis that the First Defendant…
Introduction East and Central Asia sees further efforts to promote arbitration through legislative and regulatory developments. Domestic courts clarified issues fundamental to arbitration and the judicial enforcement of arbitral awards. Domestic legislative and judicial bodies and arbitral institutions continue to grapple with recent trends and come up with innovative solutions that reflect the unique experience…
In June of 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, which settled an important circuit court split with significant relevance to arbitrations. In Coinbase, the Supreme Court considered whether a U.S. federal district court proceeding is automatically stayed during an interlocutory appeal of a denial of a motion to…
The Seoul ADR Festival (“SAF”) 2023, hosted by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (“KCAB”) INTERNATIONAL, was held from 30 October to 3 November 2023. The 12th Asia-Pacific ADR Conference, the flagship event of SAF 2023, took place on 1 November 2023 and was attended by approximately 300 participants on-site as well as other attendees simultaneously joining the conference…
On December 30, 2022, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (“SPC”) released its 36th batch of six guiding cases, all of which relate to the judicial review of arbitration awards. Our previous article focused on the first three guiding cases (Guiding Cases 196, 197, and 198) which addressed several critical issues…
According to a 2022 report by a cryptocurrency payment gateway company, since the cryptocurrency boom in 2017, Korea has truly become the “crypto hub of Asia,” powering nearly 30% of all cryptocurrency trades. But the unfortunate reality of these voluminous Korea-powered trades is that related disputes will inevitably arise. It is no secret that many…
Given the protean nature of technology, it has the propensity to evolve in ways that may surprise even the keenest observers. As such, the time is ripe to take stock of developments in relation to the new technologies discussed in our earlier article from 2018, such as Big Data, blockchain, machine learning and text mining,…
As the Crypto Winter’s chilling effect continues to be felt across the crypto sector, with crypto assets having declined in value by approximately US$ 2 trillion since their 2021 peak, international arbitrations over disputes related to crypto assets (“Crypto Arbitrations”) look set to multiply in 2022. This post provides an introduction to the types of…
At the YSIAC Conference 2021 ARBXTalk symposium at the end of 2021, it was noted that “[a] consensus shared amongst the panellists was that arbitral disputes surrounding [cryptocurrencies, blockchains and non-fungible tokens; collectively, ‘digital assets’] do not differ greatly from disputes in other industries beyond the change in underlying subject-matter of the disputes.” Yet even…
The Second Edition of the Washington Arbitration Week took place from 29 November to 3 December 2021, hosting 16 panels, including two hybrid panels with both in-person and virtual attendees. This post highlights the panel on ‘Investment Treaty Arbitration in the Digital Era: Using BITs to protect Cryptocurrency Investments?’ Cristen Bauer (U.S. Department of Commerce)…
In 2021, East and Central Asia witnessed some noteworthy developments in domestic legislation, jurisprudence, and efforts to enhance the standing of arbitral institutions and seats in the region. There have also been developments in trade/investment agreements and investor-State claims in the region. In this post, our East and Central Asian editorial team reviews this progress…
On 10 November 2021, YSIAC Conference 2021 ARBXTalk and panel discussion canvassed a myriad of dynamic developments in the arbitration space, amongst which included the impact of cryptocurrency, blockchain and non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) (collectively referred to as “CBNFT”) on arbitral disputes, the enforcement of awards, and how practitioners can adapt to digital transformations and disruptions…
Introduction – What is Binance? The rise of the cryptocurrency industry has spawned some of the fastest growing and most profitable companies since the original dotcom boom, with those like Coinbase, which was valued at almost US$100 billion after its recent IPO, being prime examples. However, Coinbase, as a cryptocurrency exchange, is dwarfed by the…
In its civil ruling (2018) Yue 03 Min Te No 719 on 26 April 2020, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court (the “Court”) set aside an award made by a local arbitral institution in Shenzhen (the “Award”), a special economic zone and the bridgehead of the China’s reform and opening-up. This judgment was approved by the…
On the second day of the Hong Kong Arbitration Week 2020, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (“BIICL”) hosted a virtual workshop on the impacts of technology and the pandemic which allows (or rather, demands) us to “re-imagine” arbitration. Smart Contracts, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies The first panel discussion addressed “Smart Contracts, Blockchain…
Indicating signals of the evolution of international arbitration, as a response to the need to keep up with a globalised legal and financial market, is not an easy task. It is not an easy task because of the different ways evolution is perceived by different circles. For some, a wind of change in international arbitration…
Blockchain and cryptocurrencies (including bitcoin) have garnered significant attention in legal scholarship over the last few years, mirroring and to some extent anticipating on the public debate over the impact of blockchain technology on the new world economic landscape and the adequate level of regulatory response to such impact – Is a cryptocurrency taxable income…
Dena Givari assisted by Ralph Cuervo-Lorens Yes, there is something to be said on this topic. The first page of the Google search results for the term “smart contracts blockchain” shows an article with the following first line: “Smart Contracts: The Blockchain Technology That Will Replace Lawyers”. While overly dramatic, the sentiment that blockchain technology…
Blockchain and its potential applications are well-documented by technologists and early-adopters. Over the last 12 months, however, this technology has started to take centre stage in more mainstream industry discussions. With the price of Bitcoin spiking early this year (following which the cryptocurrency lost over 50% of its value), blockchain has become big news and…
Cryptocurrency is a term that is becoming increasingly familiar. But how many of us have considered its implications for the world we live in—let alone for the practice of international arbitration? Cryptocurrencies—essentially digital cash—and the blockchain technology on which they are built, have the potential to revolutionise the way funds are raised, traded and stored….
