Conflict of Jurisdiction: Criteria for Assessing Jurisdiction in the Context of Cross-Border Emerging Digital Asset Disputes

Mihaela Apostol delves into another aspect of Private International Law, examining the challenges of determining jurisdiction in cross-border disputes involving digital assets. Defining digital assets broadly, including cryptocurrencies and virtual land, she further highlights the escalating frequency of such disputes. She also reflects on the evolving legal landscape through an analysis of various court cases from different legal systems, focusing on common issues like tort matters, regulatory issues, and contractual disputes. These cases are meant to illustrate the clash between the territorial nature of courts’ jurisdiction and the inherently delocalized nature of digital assets presenting a series of legal questions, including on jurisdiction ratione materiae, personae, and loci. Mihaela advocates for clearer, harmonized legal frameworks, to address jurisdictional challenges in digital asset disputes, highlighting ongoing initiatives like the Law Commission of England and Wales’ research paper on digital assets and conflict of laws, and discussing the role of soft law citing the UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets on Private Law 2023 as a notable example.