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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jacob Miller" data-source="post: 64985" data-attributes="member: 5063">Sorry it's taken me a while to add some thoughts to this discussion! Dheepa has included a lot of extremely interesting discussion and I substantively agree with what has been said. Note that I will use some jargon here, any jargon used is linked to a fuller definition. I'm coming at this from a slightly different angle, in many respects, due to my background in the financial markets and trading. This isn't by any means going to be a trading discussion, but having an understanding of the global financial markets in general does help bolster one's overall understanding of the relevancy of cryptocurrencies/ blockchain assets ('crypto assets') in today's world. I want to spend a little time discussing a few different angles to this before coming around to discussing its relevancy for law firms, and, therefore, candidates during applications and interviews. Bitcoin (BTC) was, arguably, the first crypto asset to really make waves - I remember discussing it with a friend in summer 2016 when 1 BTC was worth less than $380... I forgot about the conversation before I looked any further into making an early investment. My oh my, what could have been. Anyway, enough of the trip down memory lane; the point is that BTC has come a huge way since that time, with an increase in value of over 500% since December 2020 and a staggering 7000% value increase since that conversation with my friend back in 2016. 2021 hasn't been the only bullish run for BTC, though: it was a (slightly slightly smaller, 1750%) bull run in 2017, driving the price of BTC to almost $20,000, which really put it on the map as an asset which looked to have some longevity: [ATTACH=full]2965[/ATTACH]BTC isn't the only crypto asset to benefit from this most recent bull run, though. As Dheepa very rightly pointed out, many crypto assets have experienced a massive bull run this year: Binance Coin (BNC) has grown over 1200%, Ethereum over 2100% and even Dogecoin (dubbed the 'meme coin' due to its namesake iconic meme character) has increased in value by over 2750%. As Dheepa has correctly pointed out, one of the main draws to crypto assets has, since their establishment, been their inherently egalitarian nature: anyone with a laptop and the appropriate know-how can access them. They're not tied to a single economy, country or government; up to now they have never seen substantial institutional investment (<a href="https://www.institutionalassetmanager.co.uk/2021/01/22/294815/blackrock-moves-bitcoin-institutional-cryptocurrency-investment-takes" target="_blank">although this does appear to be changing</a>); they are inherently anonymous and are <a href="https://panoramacrypto.com/is-it-possible-to-counterfeit-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies/#:~:text=The%20answer%20is%20no.,transactions%20from%20the%20same%20operation." target="_blank">impossible to fake</a>. This notion of egalitarianism in the context of the global financial markets is a highly novel one and - again, as Dheepa points out - is intrinsically linked with recent phenomena such as the r/WallStreetBets <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortsqueeze.asp" target="_blank">short squeeze</a> on $GME and other stocks which were heavily shorted by institutional investors. I do believe that the Reddit short squeeze saga deserves an extensive discussion in its own right, so I won't discuss it extensively here - but look out for further discussion on this in the future! One of my major 'questions' on crypto assets as a whole has been fuelled by their recent rapid proliferation, and it surrounds longevity. BTC has, without a doubt, planted its flag in the ground and the consensus is that it's here to stay. As with any asset class, though, there are only certain assets which will remain consistently prolific in the context of the global financial markets. The closest comparison would be in traditional '<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/safe-haven.asp" target="_blank">safe haven</a>' assets, notably precious metals: of all the precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, copper, palladium, etc etc), only gold and silver have remained as prolific safe haven assets. I do believe, personally, that there will come a time when the crypto asset market will be bifurcated: those assets that will remain prolific will form a new asset class which could, in the future, be every bit as commonplace as currencies and stocks; the others will fall by the wayside. For me, there are several areas where this will affect commercial law firms and, so, applicants. Briefly, these are as follows: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is still some amount of contestation as to the <a href="https://www.the-ba-group.com/law/news/what-is-the-legal-status-of-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrency-in-the-eu-and-uk/#:~:text=Are%20Bitcoin%20and%20Cryptocurrency%20legal%20in%20the%20UK%3F&text=It%20has%20however%20been%20reported,Tax%20of%2010%E2%80%9320%25." target="_blank">legal classification</a> of crypto assets. This could become the subject of extensive litigation before, and in the immediate aftermath of, future regulation. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Following on from the above, the crypto market remains, at time of writing, almost entirely unregulated. The current legal landscape shows us that any arm of the global financial market becomes heavily regulated - it will be the responsibility of law firms to develop specialist regulatory teams in this area to advise clients of the regulatory changes which are likely to affect them. These regulatory changes are likely to cover a vast spectrum of issues from financial services to contracts and consideration; transaction processing to data protection. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Transactional lawyers are likely to face an increasing number of major transactions being conducted with crypto assets as they partially mitigate the issues associated with international currency conversions </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Law firms as businesses may even begin to look towards accepting payment in cryptocurrencies as their use proliferates</li> </ul>How else do you think the increased proliferation of crypto assets could affect law firms?</blockquote>

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