Crypto Fraud: High Court Decision On Tracing And Enforcing Against Cryptoassets

• Published date: 14 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Technology, Fin Tech
• Law Firm: Herbert Smith Freehills
• Author: Herbert Smith Freehills

The High Court has granted the first third-party debt order in relation to cryptocurrency in an application involving allegations of fraud related to a cryptocurrency initial coin offering. A third-party debt order (formerly known as a garnishee order) is a method of enforcing a money judgment by recovering sums that are in the hands of a third party: Ion Science Ltd v Persons Unknown (unreported, 28 January 2022).

This decision is the latest in a series of significant rulings from the English courts considering the status of cryptoassets in the context of fraud claims. It follows an earlier interim order in the same case (discussed in our previous blog post) which indicated (among other things) that cryptoassets can be treated as property, with their lex situs at the place where the person or company who owned the coin or token is domiciled.

The present decision confirms that cryptoassets may be capable of being traced and enforced against, similar to other classes of property under English law.

Also significant in this context are recent comments made by the Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, in a speech on 24...