How do you optimise dispute resolution for web3?
As part of a feature on the London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation (LCAM) launching its Blockchain Expedited Arbitration Rules for web3 technology disputes, the Lawyer speaks to our Head of Knowledge, Rebecca Warder. The feature follows Rebecca’s involvement earlier this year in her role as Deputy Chair of the London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation in launching these arbitration rules.
Over 18 months LCAM, together with Immunefi and Greenberg Traurig, solved a seemingly intractable problem: how to resolve high-value bug bounty disputes with anonymous parties at blockchain speed. The result is a market-first set of Blockchain Expedited Arbitration Rules, combining the well-known advantages of arbitration with new anonymity protections. This framework creates a bespoke dispute-resolution mechanism which offers a blueprint for how arbitration can work to resolve parties’ differences in decentralised, fast-moving digital markets.
The article explores the background to the Rules, along with how they sidestep some of the difficulties that can otherwise arise in web3 disputes in relation to enforceability, confidentiality and asset location, with views from Rebecca and other stakeholders in this team project.
Rebecca shares the importance of the speedy resolution of these disputes, with arbitral awards for tech disputes resolved under the Rules issued within 4 months of appointment of the arbitrator. Under the scheme, parties not only benefit from speed but also from clarity on costs, with a fixed fee model and the advantages of enforceability both on-chain and off-chain.
