After FTX: What’s next for digital assets? Highlights from James Brockhurst’s panel session at Spear’s 500 Live

Private Client Partner, James Brockhurst, was invited to join an expert panel session on digital assets at the Spear’s 500 Live Conference 2023.

In the session ‘After FTX: What’s next for digital assets?’, James joined Anatoly Crachilov, CEO and founding partner of Nickel Digital Asset Management; Richard Shade, COO of Archax and Chris Cox, VP of GSR Capital, to discuss how high net worths and family offices should approach these assets in 2023 and beyond.

The panel highlighted that where digital assets are concerned, there is much to learn. James confirmed that there is catching up to do from a legal perspective, with many firms still “grappling with the nature of blockchain”.

In the session James explained how he advises clients on their digital assets. When advising clients with assets over a certain threshold, a trust or foundation are the most frequently used solutions, however, this is not always an option for digital assets with many trusts weary to take on these assets and the associated counterparty risk.

He also reminded the audience that the clients themselves can also present a challenge; “A lot of the early adopters of digital assets are hostile to the idea of having a trustee: ‘Why should I hand over my assets to you?’ To that I would say, there are solutions – you can structure things through a foundation or a private trust company where you can sit on the board, so you do have that level of control.”

You can watch the full panel session here.

James is recognised for being one of the first lawyers to develop an expertise in cryptoassets and is the author of ‘Cryptoassets for Private Clients: A Practitioner’s Guide’, a book aimed at legal practitioners in the UK and other common law jurisdictions and covers the issues of cryptoassets and blockchain technology.