Alex Yueh-Ping Yang (National Taiwan University – College of Law) has posted “When Jurisdiction Rules Meet Blockchain: Can the Old Bottle Contain the New Wine?” on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The distributed nature of blockchain poses challenges to the existing legal system, notably the jurisdiction rules addressing court jurisdiction and governing laws. The In re Tezos case, a securities law dispute brought in the District Court of Northern District of California of the United States, was the case facing this particular challenge. In this paper, I conduct a case study of the In re Tezos case to illustrate how the distributed nature of blockchain impacts the determination of court jurisdiction and governing law in the securities regulation context. I argue that while the internet has already complicated those effect-based jurisdiction rules, blockchain further complicated those conduct-based jurisdiction rules. With this understanding, I offer several principles for addressing the jurisdiction issues in cases involving blockchain-based securities. Specifically, I propose an effect-based jurisdiction rule limited by a de minimis exception to mitigate blockchain’s impact, enhance legal certainty, and promote international coordination.
AI Law Blawg 