You Can Now File Lawsuits Via NFT Airdrop In The UK: What Does This Mean?

Fabrizio D'Aloia, the founder of the Italian online gambling business Micrograme, has been given permission by the High Court of England and Wales to use an NFT drop to file lawsuits against defendants who prefer to remain anonymous, according to CoinDesk.

What Happened: D'Aloia claimed to have been duped by an online brokerage to deposit more than 2.1 million Tether USDT/USD and 230,000 USD Coin USDC/USD worth about $2.33 million into two different digital wallets that proved to be fake.

The unprecedented action aims to combat cryptocurrency scams and will enable D'Aloia to submit the court proceedings to individuals who are connected to two digital wallets but remain anonymous.

Why It Matters: A digital wallet address and the specifics of each cryptocurrency transaction are stored in the blockchain with transactions remaining anonymous as long as there is no connection between a digital wallet address and an identity.

With permission granted by the court, D'Aloia can now deliver the court paperwork through an NFT airdrop to the two digital wallets and file a lawsuit against who owns them.

“This is so important because it shows the courts' willingness to adapt to new technologies and embrace the blockchain and actually step in to help consumers where previous legislation and regulators simply could not do that,” Joanna Bailey, a lawyer at Giambrone & Partners LLP told CoinDesk.

Crypto airdrops began in 2014 when Auroracoin AUR/USD, the proposed cryptocurrency for Iceland, was airdropped to each citizen who submitted their national ID.

Since then, airdrops have become increasingly popular with the Bored Ape Yacht Club, an NFT collection, airdropping 10,000 ApeCoin APE/USD to every Bored Ape owner in addition to other NFTs within the Bored Ape ecosystem.

Photo: Golden Sikorka via Shutterstock

Original publication July 13, 2022