CBFL collaborates with TRAIL with seminar on asset registries by Professor Kelvin Low

There has been much excitement over the past decade over the
technology known as the blockchain. However, few lawyers truly
understand how blockchains work. Most are content to accept the
mantra that blockchains are a form of decentralized,
cryptographically secured, immutable ledger. Yet hacks of both
exchanges and individuals have been common ever since
cryptoassets attained any significant value, so one must ask,
“What do blockchains actually secure and how do they do so?”
The answers will enable us to answer the perhaps more important
question, “What don’t blockchains secure?” Technologists and
financiers have little understanding of how asset registries work
and the security considerations that underpin the law of property.
There is a simplistic belief that an authoritative registry will solve
problems of ownership without an understanding of the costs
(financial and otherwise) of such registries. The underlying
tension in the law of property is insoluble unless one can achieve
a state of perfect security, wherein fraud becomes impossible.
Yet no technology can do so, least of all blockchains, which are
arguably even less secure than centralized ledgers once a proper
cost-benefit analysis is undertaken.
This seminar will provide participants with in-depth understanding of both the nature of blockchain security and its limits as well as a nuanced appreciation of the costs and drawbacks of asset registries.