Walters, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9157-9577 (2025) Tokens and blockchain evidence in international commercial arbitration: its current status? Arbitration International, 41 (3). ISSN 0957-0411

Abstract

The token economy is rapidly advancing and if fully realized will change the financial sector significantly. This paper will examine the development, application and use of tokens, and blockchain technology along with their impact to the rules of evidence in international commercial arbitration. The technology is formidable and will require new skills. It calls on arbitration institutions, as a starting point, to develop guidance notes for the technical application of blockchain and tokens used in evidence. This paper highlights how a recent addition to the legal framework is the Token Service Agreement, which incorporates an arbitration clause and the use of blockchain. This, along with the many other agreements that have recently been developed, for instance, in cybersecurity and data, will all be important components to the evidence that an arbitral tribunal will need to consider. More specifically, expert evidence is and will become crucial to being able to trace the actual dispute of the token (its supporting technology) and blockchain. The paper concludes calling for further research to be undertaken about how blockchain and tokens will need to be considered as evidence in international commercial arbitration.

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