Profs. Tamar Meshel and Moin Yahya examine crypto trading disputes in latest work

Assistant Professor Tamar Meshel and Professor Moin Yahya of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law examine the complex legal issues arising from crypto trading disputes in their latest research.

“Crypto Dispute Resolution: an Empirical Study” appears in the University of Illinois Journal of Law, Technology and Policy.

It is the first empirical study of how cryptocurrencies and crypto-exchanges deal with complex disputes and why they might choose a particular dispute resolution mechanism.

“Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin, are taking the financial world by storm,” write Meshel and Yahya. Because of the growing popularity of digital currencies, trading disputes are also increasing in number.

In their study, Meshel and Yahya analyze 300 dispute resolution clauses in terms and conditions of cryptocurrencies and crypto-exchanges.They examine the tailored dispute resolution mechanisms being used by these crypto platforms. 

Through their extensive analysis, they find that domestic litigation and international arbitration are the primary venues for crypto dispute resolution. They conclude that “the ability to prohibit class proceedings seems to be the strongest explanatory factor in crypto platforms’ choice of international arbitration.”