Crypto-assets and the Liability of Financial Intermediaries: Legal Challenges and Obligations Across the Payment Chain

Content:

The Rise of Crypto-assets and the Increasing Complexity of Financial Flows
An Intermediation Chain at the Heart of Liability Issues
Supporting Market Participants and Investors 

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The Rise of Crypto-assets and the Increasing Complexity of Financial Flows 

The development of crypto-assets and related services has profoundly reshaped payment and investment infrastructures. The emergence of new categories of intermediaries - exchange 
platforms, technical service providers, payment institutions, and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) - has led to a growing fragmentation of the financial chain. 

This evolution is accompanied by an increase in legal risks, including investment fraud, deceptive solicitation practices, identity theft, and the diversion of funds through complex technical infrastructures. 

Against this backdrop, the issue of the liability of financial intermediaries has become central.

An Intermediation Chain at the Heart of Liability Issues 

Crypto-asset transactions rely on a plurality of actors: end users, technical service providers, payment institutions, and trading platforms. This structure raises a recurring difficulty: determining the applicable liability regime for each participant. 

In this context, it is also important to emphasise that users must exercise heightened vigilance in the face of increasingly frequent fraud within the crypto-asset ecosystem. The terms and conditions of certain platforms may prove particularly complex, if not imbalanced, while many operators are established in foreign jurisdictions with regulatory frameworks that are sometimes heterogeneous or difficult to enforce. This situation reinforces the need for a careful assessment of legal risks prior to any subscription to, or use of, crypto-asset-related services. 

Supporting Market Participants and Investors 

In this context, disputes involving crypto-assets require a cross-disciplinary expertise combining banking and financial law, contract law, and a detailed understanding of the technical infrastructure underlying digital financial flows. 

Our firm assists both private and professional investors in the prevention and resolution of disputes relating to crypto-assets, payment service providers, and fintech actors. 

The rapid evolution of this sector calls for a rigorous analysis of liability, extending beyond the mere technical or contractual classifications advanced by certain operators.

Author: Soraya Racette