Cryptoassets
Matt Green
January 2025
Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets and Technology Disputes Matt Green comments on the rise in litigation against Big Tech companies, and explores how regulation must adapt to provide better protection and recourse for consumers.
Matt’s comments were published in CDR Magazine, 6 January 2025.
“There have been very few useful regulatory protections for consumers, although attempts have been made under financial promotions regimes.
“There is a severe lack of protections for consumers broadly when dealing with crypto assets, particularly at retail exchanges. Under recent case law, the trend is to treat crypto exchanges like banks, which themselves are governed following hundreds of years of banking law with consumer protection in place.
“However, these laws cannot be applied to crypto exchanges given technical and operational differences. On that basis, crypto exchanges are given wide protections for how they custody and pool assets (tilting in favour of their own interests), but consumers are left without recourse where those exchanges are unwilling to help.”
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