Blockchain and Private International Law by Andrea Bonomi, Matthias Lehmann and Shaheeza Lalani

Chapter 1
 The Role and Prospects of Private International 
Law Harmonisation in the Area of DLT
 Gérardine Goh Escolar
 1 
Introduction
 Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is increasingly deployed as a solution for 
daily operations. DLT finds applications in sectors and use cases such as finan-
cial technology (FinTech), smart contracts, derivatives, proof of ownership, 
asset traceability and digital currency. Its massive potential for a wide range 
of applications has taken DLT from the rarefied atmosphere reserved only 
to the most technology-savvy elite to the pockets and desks of many around 
the world in the form of mechanisms that increase systems robustness and 
operational efficiency.
 DLT and its applications find uses in many commercial sectors and has 
been the subject of significant investment as a result. However, many Private 
International Law (PIL) issues remain. Questions relating to the determina-
tion of the applicable law, jurisdiction, choice of forum, and recognition and 
enforcement remain unresolved. The complexity of answers to these questions 
is  further compounded due to the global reach of DLT applications, which do 
not  recognise traditional national borders and thus require novel approaches 
to traditional concepts in PIL.
 At present, for example, there is no clear PIL solution either in relation 
to the applicable law to digital assets and corresponding transfers, or in 
relation to the possibility of incorporating party autonomy and choice of 
law in DLT protocols. Additionally, there is also no clarity as to which State 
has the jurisdiction to resolve disputes that may arise, with the very rare 

 exception in which the dispute concerns transactions in which all nodes are 
located in one State (i.e., one-jurisdiction, permissioned systems). Moreover, 
the applicability and enforceability of choice of court agreements involving 
digital assets still hang in the balance.
 This chapter will consider the PIL challenges arising from DLT applica-
tions, including the considerations that arise in specific DLT use cases. It will 
discuss the role of PIL harmonisation in DLT, and the ongoing work at the 
Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), the United Nations 
Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the International 
Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) to harmonise PIL 
rules that relate to DLT applications. It will then touch on the prospects for 
such harmonisation, before looking to the future of PIL in the DLT space. To 
set the stage for this discussion, this chapter first briefly discusses the con-
text of DLT applications and the characteristics of DLT that trigger these PIL 
challenges.
 2 Context
2.1 What is DLT?
 DLT has been defined as:
 …the practice that uses nodes…to record, share and synchronize trans-
actions in their respective electronic ledgers (instead of keeping data 
centralized as in a traditional ledger). The participant at each node of 
the network can access the recordings shared across that network and 
can own an identical copy of it. Any changes or additions made to the 
ledger are reflected and copied to all participants in a matter of seconds 
or minutes.
 DLT is the protocol on which blockchain is based. DLT consists of a regis-
ter (“ledger”) distributed across an online network without a central control 

Blockchain and Private International Law by Andrea Bonomi, Matthias Lehmann and Shaheeza Lalani