How Are Contract And Trust Law Principles Applied In Cryptocurrency Disputes?

We are beginning to see disputes arising from the use of virtual currencies in trade. How such issues will be tackled is subject to much speculation and debate.

Of help, is the recent Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC)'s¹ decision in B2C2 Ltd v Quoine², which provides an insight into how common law jurisdictions may apply contract and trust law principles to the trade of virtual currencies.

In this case, the SICC considered how the intention of the parties was to be construed in the context of smart contracts "drafted'" (i.e. coded) by a programmer, drawing a distinction between the intention of the programmer and the automatic translation of his algorithm.

The dispute