Name: Blockchain Asset Registries-Freeing Crypto from Mania
Start: 2022-04-12T16:00:00+08:00
End: 2022-04-12T17:00:00+08:00
Location: Online via ZOOM

AIIFL Lectures & Seminars

Blockchain Asset Registries-Freeing Crypto from Mania

AIIFL | Law & Technology Centre

Date & Time Tuesday, 12 April 2022 4:00-5:00 pm (HKT)

Duration 1:00

Location Online via ZOOM

New update Recording available

There has been much excitement over the past decade over the technology known as the blockchain. However, few lawyers truly understand how blockchains work. Most are content to accept the mantra that blockchains are a form of decentralized, cryptographically secured, immutable ledger. Yet hacks of both exchanges and individuals have been common ever since crypto assets attained any significant value, so one must ask, “What do blockchains actually secure and how do they do so?” The answers will enable us to answer the perhaps more important question, “What don’t blockchains secure?” Technologists and financiers have little understanding of how asset registries work and the security considerations that underpin the law of property. There is a simplistic belief that an authoritative registry will solve problems of ownership without an understanding of the costs (financial and otherwise) of such registries. The underlying tension in the law of property is insoluble unless one can achieve a state of perfect security, wherein fraud becomes impossible. Yet no technology can do so, least of all blockchains, which are arguably even less secure than centralized ledgers once a proper cost-benefit analysis is undertaken. This seminar will provide participants with in-depth understanding of both the nature of blockchain security and its limits as well as a nuanced appreciation of the costs and drawbacks of asset registries.