Insights

For many, the trial and subsequent conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried is all about the numbers. And that is understandable. The 32-year-old co-founder of crypto exchange FTX is now starting a 25-year jail sentence for fraud – a fraud that has seen his customers lose $8 billion.

A UK court has granted summary judgment to the victim of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme but stops short of making a final award.

According to statistics published by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis last year, illicit cryptocurrency-based activity was at an all-time high, with stolen funds through hacks and other phishing methods representing a significant proportion of the overall estimated US$20.6 billion in crypto-related crime globally.

In Piroozzadeh v Persons Unknown and Others [2023] EWHC 1024 (Ch), the cryptocurrency exchange Binance successfully applied to discharge an interim proprietary injunction obtained by a claimant whose misappropriated cryptoassets had been deposited at the exchange. This is the first recorded case of an exchange successfully having discharged such an injunction.

Are blockchain developers liable as fiduciaries or otherwise to bitcoin owners who use their software? 

How are cryptocurrencies and virtual assets like non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, being used in the gaming industry and what implications does this have for asset recovery professionals?

The battle against fraud is changing, but the threat isn't reducing. Carmel King explains how corporate intelligence can support the Bar to help victims of crypto fraud.