REUTERS | Mohamed al-Sayagh
March 13, 2023

Cryptoasset fraud poses novel questions on jurisdiction and service of proceedings

The recent judgment in Osbourne v Persons Unknown and another adds to the growing body of English case law on cryptoasset fraud and the willingness of the courts to tackle novel questions posed by such cases. Osbourne sets a precedent as the first judgment to authorise service solely by non-fungible token (NFT). It is also notable for its confirmation that NFTs are property. At the same time, it highlights that cases which almost invariably will span (often multiple) jurisdictions raise issues over the location of such assets and whether or not English court jurisdiction is established.

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REUTERS | REUTERS/Damir Sagol
March 8, 2023

5 things we learnt about class actions

Introduction

The rise in UK class actions related to anti-competitive behaviour by corporates surged to over £26 billion last year, according to a recent report by Thomson Reuters. This growth represents a six-fold increase in value, from £4 billion in 2021 to over £26 billion in the past 12 months, as a result of a rise in competition class action cases lodged with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), from five cases in 2021 to nine cases in 2022.

This is just one of many findings in Thomson Reuters’ analysis of the current state of class actions in the UK market. Here are five of the key takeaways to emerge from the data:

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REUTERS | Alistair Scrutton
March 2, 2023

Is litigation funding uncorrelated or just less correlated?

In years to come, March 2023 may come to be remembered as the month that came closest to replaying the systemic carnage of September 2008. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) triggered broader concerns given its venture capital and start-up focused client base – perhaps better contextualised when one considers about 5% of VC managers control 50% of the capital in the US.  Larry Fink, the legendary founder and CEO of the asset management behemoth Blackrock, wrote to investors shortly after SVB’s demise, stating that the “dominoes are starting to fall” after the changing interest rate environment had “exposed cracks in the financial system”.

Following SVB, Signature Bank quickly became the next domino, with its high-risk exposures to crypto and tech-focused lending, becoming the third largest bank failure in US history. And to prevent the next domino (First Republic Bank) from falling, 11 major US banks orchestrated a rescue package involving the injection of USD 30 billion in deposits.

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