Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are becoming an increasingly popular solution for serving defendants in otherwise unreachable blockchain-based crimes, according to cryptocurrency lawyers.
Last year saw an increase in lawsuits being filed via NFTs when people accused of blockchain crimes were not reachable through traditional methods of communication.
In November 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted U.S. law firm The Crypto Lawyers a client’s request to serve defendants via NFT.
The defendant’s identity was unknown, but the plaintiff accused him of stealing approximately $958,648.41 worth of cryptocurrency.
After plaintiffs submitted to court a declaration from a crypto investigator confirming stolen cryptocurrency transactions, a judge ruled that NFTs should be used because it was deemed a “reasonably calculated” method of giving notice. I have accepted your request to serve the defendant as leverage.
Agustin Barbara, Managing Partner of The Crypto Lawyers, told Cointelegraph that servicing defendants via NFTs is a powerful tool for blockchain crime where it is “virtually impossible to identify the bad guys.” said that it is a useful tool.
Barbara explained that summoning an unknown identity via NFT is done by transferring the NFT to the defendant’s blockchain wallet address. I own an asset.
He said this method is a way to contact the accused when other traditional methods such as email or mailing are not viable due to their unknown identities.
Barbara said the content of NFT’s court notices typically includes notices of legal action, including subpoenas, subpoenas, complaints, and a designated web site containing notices and copies of all filings and orders being executed. I explained that it contains a hyperlink to the site.
Michael Bacina, a digital asset attorney at Australian law firm Piper Alderman, said a subpoena notice may not come to the defendant’s attention because “the defendant may not be using a wallet.” has severely restricted activity in the wallet and other wallets that have recently interacted with it.
Bacina suggested marking the wallet address black. This means that the address and all other wallet addresses with which it has recently transacted are considered suspicious and may affect their activity as well. he said:
Businesses may not want to accept transactions that are too close to the wallet, where the wallet is accused of being involved in lawsuits.
Bacina added that the advantage of “the open nature of public blockchains” means that they can be easily verified. If the wallet is in useand has proven to be a good way to know if an NFT serving was potentially seen.
Related: UK courts allow litigation via NFTs
Other court orders were served through NFTs in 2022.
Ann An international law firm issued an injunction via June 2022 NFT will receive $1.3 million USDC (USDC) frozen in the chain.
In the same month, UK law firm Giambrone & Partners announced that it had become the first law firm in the UK and Europe to allow High Court judges to process paperwork through NFTs.
