header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Book review: Blockchain, smart contracts, decentralised autonomous organisations and the law

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.
04 February 2020 / Malcolm Dowden
Issue: 7873 / Categories: Features , Cybercrime
printer mail-detail
15316
Editors: Daniel Kraus, Thierry Obrist, Olivier Hari
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019
ISBN: 978 1 78811 512 4
Pages: 384
RRP: £110

On 18 November 2019 the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce of the Law Delivery Panel delivered a 46-page legal statement concluding that:

  • cryptoassets, including virtual currencies, can in principle be treated as property, and
  • smart contracts are capable of satisfying the requirements of contracts in English law and are thus enforceable by the courts.

This followed the Law Commission’s statement, confirmed by the court in Neocleous v Rees [2019] EWHC 2462 (CH), that statutory requi rements for a signature can be met by electronic means.

Prompted by those significant legal development, practitioners are likely to be looking for reliable and up-to-date information on the relevant technologies and emerging business structures. Professor Daniel Kraus and a team of expert contributors have provided an excellent overview of the key issues, ranging from the practical and legal characteristics of blockchain to the major concerns

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Firm expands London disputes practice with senior partner hire

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Senior associate promotion strengthens real estate offering

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Leading patent litigator joins intellectual property team

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Law Society calls for clarity on AML
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
NLJ this week: Turning corporate liability into opportunity
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
NLJ this week: A prince no more?
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
NLJ this week: Shareholder secrecy sunk
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
NLJ this week: The expanding remit of national security law
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll