Event report
Past Event | In-House Counsel Club: Crypto assets and blockchain – AML, compliance, and disputes risks
Our recent In-House Counsel Club focused on practical approaches to crypto-assets, compliance and disputes risks and was organised in conjunction with Hogan Lovells.
Sentiment can immediately prompt the reaction that where crypto is involved, there is a red flag, but crypto-assets are increasingly being accepted by, and requested as a form of available payment (and not just by nefarious actors). Hogan Lovells sketched out the red flags that do still exist, and how businesses’ traditional AML/KYC compliance structures can be updated and tweaked to monitor and permit these token flows.
With respect to crypto disputes, the session touched in particular on some of the challenges that arise because of crypto’s extreme price volatility, which can make valuation and damages more complex than in traditional markets. Participants discussed the issue of valuation dates and the risks of windfall gains or under-compensation in volatile markets: recent caselaw globally (including the Singapore High court case in Kalen v WEX) suggests courts and tribunals are increasingly focusing on how a claimant could realistically have mitigated after a breach, and whether market prices truly reflect recoverable value.
Thank you to our speakers Rob Palmer, Partner in the Hogan Lovells International Arbitration team, and Khushaal Ved, Partner in the Investigations, White Collar and Fraud team for leading this insightful session.
For more information about the In-House Counsel Club, please contact Vanessa Hobbs at vhobbs(@)fccsingapore.com
