How Novel Delaware Ruling Tackled Crypto Jurisdiction
Litigation attorneys Kayla Joyce and Andrew Balthazor authored a Law360 article analyzing the Delaware Court of Chancery's first-of-its-kind ruling in Timoria LLC v. Anis, which denied jurisdiction over allegedly stolen ether tokens and clarified how traditional doctrines apply to digital assets. They explain the court's key holdings, including that ether is intangible property, its situs tracks the owner's domicile for jurisdictional purposes and due process requires more than constructive situs to impose obligations on foreign defendants with no Delaware contacts. Ms. Joyce and Mr. Balthazor outline practical takeaways for crypto disputes, including upfront domicile planning for asset-holding entities, use of forum-selection clauses and exchange-focused, multijurisdictional recovery strategies when in rem or quasi-in rem paths are limited.
Mr. Balthazor, who co-leads the firm's Crypto Asset Dispute Team, also published a Holland & Knight alert on this case.