Cayman Islands: Blockchain

This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Blockchain laws and regulations applicable in Cayman Islands.

  1. Please provide a high-level overview of the blockchain market in your jurisdiction. In what business or public sectors are you seeing blockchain or other distributed ledger technologies being adopted?

  2. Please outline the principal legislation and the regulators most relevant to the use of blockchain technologies in your jurisdiction. In particular, is there any blockchain-specific legislation or are there any blockchain-specific regulatory frameworks in your jurisdiction, either now or envisaged in the short or mid-term?

  3. What is the current attitude of the government and of regulators to the use of blockchain technology in your jurisdiction?

  4. Is there a central bank digital currency (‘CBDC’) project in your jurisdiction? If so, what is the status of the project?

  5. What is the current approach in your jurisdiction to the treatment of cryptoassets and decentralised finance (‘DeFi’) for the purposes of financial regulation?

  6. What is the current approach in your jurisdiction to the treatment of cryptoassets and DeFi for the purposes of anti-money laundering and sanctions?

  7. What is the current approach in your jurisdiction to the treatment of cryptoassets and DeFi for the purposes of taxation?

  8. Are there any prohibitions on the use or trading of cryptoassets in your jurisdiction? If permitted, is cryptoasset trading common?

  9. To what extent have initial coin offerings (‘ICOs’) taken place in your jurisdiction and what has been the attitude of relevant authorities to ICOs? If permissible, what are the key requirements that an entity would need to comply with when launching an ICO?

  10. Are there any legal or regulatory issues concerning the transfer of title to or the granting of security over cryptoassets?

  11. How are smart contracts characterised within your legal framework? Are there any enforceability issues specific to the operation of smart contracts which do not arise in the case of traditional legal contracts?

  12. How are Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (‘DAOs’) treated in your jurisdiction?

  13. Have there been any governmental or regulatory enforcement actions concerning blockchain in your jurisdiction?

  14. Are there any other generally-applicable laws, case law or regulations that may present issues for the use of blockchain technology (such as privacy and data protection law or insolvency law)?

  15. Are there any other key issues concerning blockchain technology in your jurisdiction that legal practitioners should be aware of?