Unidroit principles on digital assets and private law

Abstract

Introducing a new instrument is always a reason for celebration. After years − for years it takes − of sowing, the time to harvest the crop arrives and, with it, the actual realisation of our mandate. A new instrument marks the successful ending of a process where considerable effort and resources have been spent. Few projects have required as much effort − and used as many resources − as the Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law. A new topic covering a new reality which moves at a speed which is difficult to make compatible with the usual timing of transnational law, and which is fundamentally at odds with the carefully pondered, slow motion of Government interaction as well as with the complex debates involving experts with a global membership, each potentially with a diverse vision of reality. In addition to the speed at which the conception and use of digital assets may potentially mutate, the unpredictable evolution of technology presented another layer of complexity.