UK Judge Greenlights Blockchain Process Serving via NFT

A judge in the United Kingdom has given the approval for legal documents to be served over a blockchain via a non-fungible token (NFT).

Service of process, the procedure by which a party to a lawsuit gives an appropriate notice of initial legal action to another party, can now occur over a blockchain in Britain, according to court documents. The notice of service itself would take the form of an NFT. Although these usually take the form of artwork, NFTs can also be thought of as digital certificates of authenticity.

You’ve been served—NFT style

The ruling comes from a case brought by the founder of an online gambling company against cryptocurrency exchanges and other platforms including Binance. According to the claim filed by Fabrizio D’Aloia, his crypto assets were fraudulently cloned while in the custody of the brokerages. The court ruled that the exchanges were thus responsible for ensuring that stolen crypto was not moved or taken out of their systems.  

The service will take place via the airdropping of the lawsuit documents in the form of an NFT into a pair of wallets originally used by D’Aloia, which had been pilfered by the fraudsters.

This action sets a precedent for victims of crypto fraud to sue unknown crooks in the UK, according to law firm Giambrone & Partners LLP. Last month, a court in the United States made a similar move to authorize service via NFT. 

Blockchain reporting

This wouldn’t be the first time that U.K. authorities perform their duties over a blockchain. Last year, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England deployed a blockchain network to handle regulatory reporting.

“By connecting to firms through blockchain and API technology and implementing machine-readable and executable regulation, compliance checks can be completed in near real-time,” said FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi of the initiative.