CAYMAN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Alan Bercow, Jae Shin and Ross McLeod, Appleby
7. Special Rules and Laws 7.1 Rules for Claiming Punitive or Exemplary Damages
7.3 Crypto-Assets The Cayman Islands courts are well practised at granting orders in respect of crypto-assets. Although the question as to whether crypto- assets amount to property has not yet been decided by the Cayman Islands courts, deci - sions of the English courts that crypto-assets may be treated as property are likely to be persuasive – see, for example, AA v Persons Unknown [2020] 4 WLR 35 and D’Aloia v Per - sons Unknown [2025] 1 WLR 821 (in which the English High Court accepted that Bitcoin and USD Tether, respectively, constituted property in English law). The Cayman Islands courts grant NPOs in cryp - to-fraud claims – for example, against crypto- exchanges that are subject to Cayman Islands jurisdiction – to identify the owners of wallet addresses, to identify assets, and to provide KYC information, and also grant freezing injunc - tions.
Damages in Cayman Islands law are compen - satory – namely, to compensate the claimant for the losses they have suffered, rather than to punish the defendant. Punitive or exempla - ry damages are rarely awarded in the Cayman Islands and the amounts awarded have been relatively limited. 7.2 Laws to Protect “Banking Secrecy” The Cayman Islands maintains a robust but evolving framework of financial confidentiality laws, balancing privacy protection with transpar - ency requirements for legitimate investigations. The primary legislation governing banking secre - cy is the Confidential Information Disclosure Act 2016 (CIDA). Under the CIDA, the disclosure of confidential information without consent is prohibited, with criminal penalties for violations. However, the CIDA contains significant exceptions that facili - tate evidence gathering in fraud claims, includ - ing that the court may order disclosure of con - fidential banking information when relevant to proceedings, and explicitly permission for dis - closure pursuant to statutory provisions, includ - ing the Mutual Legal Assistance (United States of America) Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act.
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