On 9 May 2019, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) published a consultation on identifying the key issues of legal uncertainty regarding cryptoassets, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and smart contracts.

The UKJT is one of the six taskforces of the LawTech Delivery Panel. Its objective is to demonstrate that English law and the jurisdiction of England and Wales together provide a state-of-the-art foundation for the development of DLT, smart contracts and associated technologies.

In pursuit of this objective, the UKJT is co-ordinating the preparation of an authoritative legal statement on the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts under English private law. The purpose of the consultation is to seek input from stakeholders as to the principal issues of perceived legal uncertainty regarding the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts under English private law to inform what should be addressed in the legal statement. The questions being consulted on are included in Annex 1 of the consultation paper, whilst Annexes 2 – 4 provide a detailed overview of DLT; cryptoassets; and smart contracts.

The deadline for responses to the consultation is 21 June 2019.