It’s estimated that some 3.3 million people in the UK own some form of digital asset which has value. The most common “digital assets” are cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other altcoins.

Other emerging assets include Non-Fungible Tokens, known more readily as “NFTs”.

If you hold, own or have some financial interest in digital assets, careful planning is vital to ensure that those assets, and importantly the value in them, is properly managed and protected, for you and your future generations.

From estate planning, wills and administering estates with digital assets, to dealing with disputes involving investment or management of cryptocurrency and other digital assets by investment managers, trustees and others, we can help.

Our expert team of crypto assets lawyers have specific expertise in advising and assisting clients who are faced with any issues relating to digital assets.

Our experience

Advice concerning how to effectively pass on cryptocurrency and digital assets on death
Investigating breaches by personal representatives in failing to unlock or secure cryptocurrency or digital assets in deceased persons estates
The administration of estates with digital assets
Providing talks, seminars and professional training on digital assets

Crypto claims

Cryptocurrencies marketed as low-risk investments have exposed investors to substantial financial losses. If you have suffered losses you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

Crypto mis-selling claims mainly arise from the mismanagement of funds by financial advisers, the manipulation of cryptocurrency prices or the provision of false or misleading information.

Significant losses can also arise for investors resulting from issues with online trading platforms typically relating to website stability, speed, and product description.

The financial impact of crypto trading can be very significant, particularly were leveraged products are utilised, exposing investors to losses that considerably exceed the capital sums invested.

The fact that large numbers of investors that have suffered losses relation to cryptocurrency means group or class action cases can be brought.

We are able to advise on potential claims relating to cryptocurrency investment and related products.

We will investigate your circumstances and advise on whether you might have a claim. Our specialist team is experienced in handling a variety of financial mis-selling cases and has over 25 years as a leading class action firm.

How we can help victims of cryptocurrency scams?

We advised victims of the Alfa-Crypx (also known as Alpha-Crypx) cryptocurrency scam, where cryptotokens worth approximately £150,000 were stolen including the various investigative and legal steps necessary to recover those stolen assets.

This case involved an understanding of complex, novel and developing cross-border legal issues including advising on the recovery process and service of proceedings out of the jurisdiction using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

The Lawyers on the Block podcast

Roman Kubiak and Kieran Forsyth discuss the biggest crypto and digital asset issues facing professionals and the legal aspects of the crypto markets more broadly. The podcast is published every other Monday. Subscribe using the buttons below.

Digital assets seminar – Tales from the Crypt(o)

Hugh James and New Square Chambers were delighted to host a seminar on Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets in the heart of the City at The Gherkin. The seminar covered a range of topics including:

An introduction to Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets
Digital Assets in the context of private wealth planning and advice
The Terra Luna crash
Panel discussion and Q&As

You can watch the talk by clicking the image below.

Key contact

Roman Kubiak TEP

Partner

Roman Kubiak is a Partner and Head of the market leading Private Wealth Disputes team.

He advises across the whole spectrum of private wealth disputes, with a particular focus on high value, complex and cross-border disputes including: trust disputes, breach of trust claims and applications to remove trustees; will disputes, particularly those with an international element; claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975; and claims for equitable relief under proprietary estoppel, constructive trusts and resulting trusts.

Cryptocurrency is a digital asset with a certain value attached to it which can be exchanged and used much like ordinary currency but notably is not reliant on central authorities, such as a government or bank.

While all digital and most virtual currencies are centralised with supply controlled by the developer of the currency, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are decentralised and not created or controlled by a single central entity. Therefore, supply and value of cryptocurrency is determined by demand.

Instead of being physical money carried around and exchanged in the real world, cryptocurrency payments exist purely as digital entries to an online database describing specific transactions. When you transfer cryptocurrency funds, the transactions are recorded in a public ledger. Cryptocurrency is stored in digital wallets.

If you own cryptocurrency, you don’t own anything tangible. What you own is a key that allows you to move a record or a unit of measure from one holder to another.

There is now some considerable value in certain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, where that particular currency can be used much like money. The added feature of such currency is the privacy associated to it. You will never know who owns a particular cryptocurrency, only the owner of a private key to access the public key will be able to unlock the value. Some individuals consider such privacy to be an attractive feature, and many take to the idea of decentralised finance i.e., the opposite to our current banking system.

While cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have risen considerably in value in the past 10 years – the value of 10 Bitcoin has risen from an average value of £130 in 2012 to £280,000 by the start of 2022 – they are also notoriously volatile and high risk. That can therefore lead to issues, for instance due to poor investment decisions, inability to unlock or lay claim to such assets on someone’s death and overall, a lack of transparency.

The other notable digital asset with particular value is that of a Non-Fungible Token.

Non-Fungible means that the asset is unique and cannot be replaced with something else. Cryptocurrency, on the hand, is fungible – you can trade it for something else.

These assets are anything digital in nature such as digital art or music. Much of the recent excitement in NFTs stems from an evolution of collecting digital art. The value in this context is that NFTs are designed to provide the owner with something that cannot be copied.

Most often, the issues lie in their susceptibility to fraud, financial volatility, and the difficulties they pose either with ownership in lifetime or in effectively passing on the ownership on death.

Next steps

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