Miami Crypto Contracts Lawyer

When an organization grows, it most likely means the volume of contracts is also rapidly moving upward. Contract law is a detail-oriented area of legal practice under any circumstances, but the arrival of cryptocurrency has drastically increased the need for even deeper attention to legal nuance. Our Miami crypto contracts lawyer has the experience that businesses and individuals can rely on when acting in the digital world.

Good Attorneys at Law has been working on the type of issues that are now part of the cryptocurrency landscape for over 20 years. We have a deep understanding of the legal questions that others are just getting up to speed on. From our Miami office, we serve clients nationwide. Call today at (305) 902-2760 or reach out online to set up a consultation.

What Is a Cryptocurrency Contract?

The term smart contract is used to describe what takes place in the crypto world. It has to be emphasized that this type of agreement is not just another contract that happens to be affirmed electronically by each party. It has an entirely different enforcement mechanism.

Blockchain code is at the heart of cryptocurrency, and smart contracts are written as part of that code. It’s set up to trigger automatically with an exchange of cryptocurrencies. In effect, smart contracts enforce themselves.

There are still basic elements of contract law that must apply. Every contract is still defined by the elements of an offer, acceptance and consideration (the legal definition of the value each party receives in the agreement). Each contract must still have terms that are legal. Something illegal can never be a valid form of consideration in contract law, either digitally or in the physical world.

Good Attorneys at Law has the reliable experience you need to craft smart contracts that will be sustainable for your business. Call us at (305) 902-2760 or fill out our online contact form to arrange for a consultation.

Legal Issues with Smart Contracts

Underneath those shared premises of legal agreements, the unique, self-enforcing nature of smart contracts still offer a complex set of legal challenges.

Undoing Automatic Enforcement

What if turns out that the consideration agreed upon was, in fact, illegal? How do you undo a contract after it’s already been enforced? Automatic enforcement can also create issues with perfectly legal agreements. For example, in the real world, a business might forgive the late payment of a subscription. Maybe the customer in question has been loyal over the years, or maybe the business is new enough that they don’t see this as the hill they’re ready to die on. In a standard contract, a business can make that decision easily enough. With a smart contract, the consequences of non-payment (cancellation of a subscription, in this case) kick in automatically.

Amending the Agreement

In the physical world, human beings and organizations routinely modify their contracts to adjust for changing conditions. The way a smart contract is placed on the blockchain make any alterations extremely difficult, if not impossible. A Miami crypto contracts lawyer has to work with clients on crafting the right kind of language up front and then working with them on the challenging task of making changes, if that becomes necessary.

Dealing with Disputes

What if the two parties disagree over whether a contract’s terms were fulfilled? The blockchain code will make the final decision, but it’s unlikely that decision will mollify the party on the wrong end of it. An attorney has the job of smoothing things over.

Jurisdiction

Cryptocurrency transactions are global, which makes establishing jurisdiction in a dispute challenging enough. But even if all parties are within the United States, contract law is still left up to the individual states. And the relative anonymity of blockchain transactions (one of their key attractions) makes establishing the locality of both parties more of a challenge. The simple issue of where to settle a legal dispute has to be worked out.

Contract Language

A judge that oversees a standard contract dispute isn’t going to have any issue with understanding the language that it’s written in. That’s not necessarily the case for a smart contract. It will be written in code, and unless the judge has both extensive familiarity with cryptocurrency cases and an ability to read blockchain, there are going to be issues with interpretation.

Schedule a Consultation

The challenges are real, but challenges have solutions. The key is working with a lawyer with the requisite experience necessary to understand these types of cases and offer creative ways to a positive outcome. Good Attorneys at Law has been working on issues that are now a part of cryptocurrency for over 20 years, well before it became part of the economic mainstream. The issues that others may have to get up to speed on are a part of our law firm’s DNA.

Call our office today at (305) 902-2760 or contact us online to set up a consultation.