BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Alex Hall Taylor KC, Richard Brown, Tim Wright and Simon Hall, Carey Olsen
14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform Various amendments to the EC CPR came into force on 31 July 2023, including largely removing the requirement for permission to serve a claim out of the jurisdiction. See 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public. In January 2021, the BVI passed legislation to give statutory footing to the so-called Black Swan jurisdiction, so that the BVI courts have statutory jurisdiction to grant injunctive relief in support of foreign proceedings.
14.2 Growth Areas The most prominent area of growth in the BVI is disputes relating to digital assets and cryp- tocurrency. The BVI is a popular jurisdiction for the incorporation of cryptocurrency issuers, exchanges and other intermediaries dealing in digital assets. As a result, the BVI Commercial Court is seeing an increasing number of claims concerning crypto-assets, including major insolvencies – for example, the liquidation of the Three Arrows Capital cryptocurrency hedge fund. The courts are also seeing an increase in sub- stantial claims arising from trust and probate disputes, which is likely the result of succession issues related to older wealth creators who set up offshore structures some time ago.
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