The Insolvency of Cryptocurrency Exchanges: Lessons from the BitGrail Case — Reification of Coins, Pari Passu Ranking, and Nominalism

Abstract

This paper deals with a recent trend in insolvency of cryptocurrency platforms; comments on the BitGrail case (Court of Florence 17/2019, 21 January 2019) and argues that this decision balances the need to grant legal protection to the injured users and the need to prevent them from having the status of owners, jumping the queue and getting a head start over the other creditors of the platform.