A global legal and regulatory guide to cryptocurrencies - Chapter 3

Publication | July 2015

Norton Rose Fulbright’s global blockchain and cryptocurrency team has produced a global legal and regulatory guide to cryptocurrencies.

The guide is issued in a series of chapters, published monthly.

Chapter 3: The legal nature of cryptocurrency

The legal nature of cryptocurrency is, in most jurisdictions, yet to be determined by statute, regulation or case law. In the absence of statutory or regulatory authority addressing the issue, how are the courts likely to analyse the legal nature of cryptocurrency?

Under many common law jurisdictions, the legal nature of cryptocurrency is likely to be a corollary of what legal rights and obligations can be asserted in relation to it, and by and against whom (the position in the case of civil law jurisdictions may differ). What factors are likely to be relevant to the courts in determining such rights and obligations? This chapter considers how the courts might analyse these issues.