Two recent decisions issued by an Italian Court of First Instance and, subsequently, by the Court of Appeal intervene in the debate around the qualification of cryptocurrencies as an asset or money that may be validly injected into a limited liability company’ s capital.Both decisions refer to the same question: can a company accept cryptocurrencies as a contribution in kind to the company’ s corporate capital? Both courts answered in the negative, however on different…
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange CoinCheck confirmed on 26 January 2018 that it has been the victim of a massive hack, resulting in what would appear to be the largest cryptocoin theft of all time. In a press conference CoinCheck admitted that the current understanding was that the hackers had stolen around 523 million of the exchange’s NEM coins which, at the time of detection, were worth around $534 million. This would surpass the $400 million worth of…
1. Global contextAs noted in the IMF’s “Virtual Currencies and Beyond: Initial Considerations” report released in January 2016: “[Virtual currencies (VCs)] offer many potential benefits, including greater speed and efficiency in making payments and transfers – particularly across borders – and ultimately promoting financial inclusion… At the same time, VCs pose considerable risks as potential vehicles for money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion and fraud.”Regulators around the world have begun to focus on this issue…