Service Of Proceedings Via NFT On The Blockchain - The Future?

• Published date: 18 July 2022
• Law Firm: Matheson
• Author: Ms Karen Reynolds, Michael Byrne and Samuel Elliott

Developments in the UK

In a first for the UK courts, the High Court of England and Wales in the case of D'Aloia v. (1) Persons Unknown (2) Binance Holdings Limited & Others has granted an application for service of court proceedings by way of the transfer of a non-fungible token ("NFT") recorded to a decentralised blockchain.

The claimant, who founded an online gaming service provider, brought proceedings against a number of cryptocurrency exchanges and others for alleged misappropriation of '1.8 million of Tether and '190,000 of USD Coin. The claimant alleged that individuals had impersonated an online brokerage, and induced him to transfer funds from his crypto wallets to their platform. In seeking interim relief, counsel for the claimant explained to the court that it was apparent that the (alleged) misappropriated funds had been transferred to private wallets and cryptocurrency exchanges. In the course of granting interim relief...