September 14, 2021 - by Bridget Marsh. On, September 9th, the LSTA hosted part one of the two part webinar series, Digital Assets and Virtual Currencies – Amendments to the UCC, presented by Steven Harris, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Edwin Smith, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and Steve Weise, Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP.
For some time now, the law has been trying to catch-up to the rapidly changing and ever-evolving technology, including that relating to digital assets. Since 2019, a committee appointed by the American Law Institute and the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), the sponsoring organizations of the Uniform Commercial Code, has been formulating amendments to the UCC to address emerging technological developments including those relating to digital assets and virtual currencies. Importantly, those proposed amendments make no mention of blockchain, distributed ledger technology, public or private keys, or other nomenclature associated with digital assets and virtual currencies. Instead, technology neutral provisions are used so that they will not become obsolete quickly.
The speakers, all of whom are active members of the committee, gave an overview of the initial draft of the amendments as presented to the ULC at its annual meeting in July 2021 and announced that the current plan is for the amendments to be finalized over the next year with a view to obtaining approval of the American Law Institute in May 2022 and of the ULC in July 2022. Following those approvals, the amendments would then be offered for enactment by the states. The presenters highlighted key definitions and provisions of the proposed amendments relevant to loan market participants and invited members to submit comments to assist the committee with their drafting.
The second webinar has been scheduled to take place at 4PM on October 14th, and registration for it will open later this month. Click here for the slides and replay.
