ABSTRACT
Private International Law (PIL) is expected to provide answers to questions that condition the very possibility of effectively extending law enforcement into the realm of blockchain-based transactions. A prerequisite thereto is determining the applicable law and the competent authorities. To identify the applicable law, it is thus necessary to refer to conflict-of-law rules. However, these struggle to provide immediate and clear-cut answers when it comes to these technologically-bred creatures. The same applies to determining the competent jurisdiction. Several elements are rendering the concerned rules ill-fitted when confronted with these technological evolutions. In the present contribution, the focus is on pseudonymity.
This contribution first explains pseudonymity as it can effectively be observed in the context of distributed ledgers and the different settings which may surround crypto transactions. This allows the contribution to present the exact impact of such pseudonymity on PIL, using European PIL as an example. Finally, this contribution emphasises an issue which can be even more fundamental than clarifying PIL, namely ensuring the possibility of effective enforcement of rendered judicial decisions.
Kleczewski, Anne-Grace, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The Private International Law, the Crypto Transactions and the Pseudonyms (November 30, 2023) in Bonomi, Lehmann and Lalani (eds), Blockchain and Private International Law, International Law E-Books Collection, Brill Nijhoff, Leiden, 2023.
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