LLAW6126 & JDOC6126

General Course Information

1.1 Course details

Course code: LLAW6126 / JDOC6126
Course name: e-Finance: Law, Compliance and Technology Challenges
Programme offered under: LLM Programme / JD Programme
Semester: June
Prerequisites / Co-requisites: No
Credit point value: 9 credits / 6 credits

1.2 Course description

The overall aim of this course is twofold: first, to understand how money is legally made in contemporary legal orders and, second, to grasp the complexity of the current forms of crypto-law with a particular emphasis on the recent proliferation of alternative forms of money like cryptocurrencies. 

The course is organized in 2 distinct units. The first one will broach conceptions of money from a theoretical perspective, covering the most important definitions of what counts as money from a legal perspective. It will read quite closely commodity and state-based conceptions of money. It will also provide a reflection of the role of digital coding in the production of monetary regulation and a reconstruction of how money is made by contemporary States. The second part will be dedicated (mostly) to the analysis of the legal nature of some of the most important cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ether, XRP) by looking at case law, legal regulation by parliaments and executives, regulation by independent or semi-independent agencies (tax and revenues agencies, security and exchange commission, etc etc), and other uses by code-designers themselves, such as NFTs or smart contracts. The analysis will be conducted from a comparative perspective and will cover some of the most important jurisdictions (UK, USA, EU, Hong Kong, New Zealand). The analysis will be centred around two foci: the determination of the legal nature of cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets (i.e., when they can be considered to be money, property or securities) and the impact of legal regulation and decision on the coding and development of these new instruments. 

1.3 Course teachers

Name E-mail address Office Consultation
Course convenor Marco Goldoni Marco.goldoni@glasgow.ac.uk TBA By email

Learning Outcomes

2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course

CLO 1 On successful completion of the course, students should be able to distinguish and understand the main defining traits of the most influential legal conceptions of money, and to assess the political, moral and social complexity surrounding monetary policies and regulations in the contemporary world. 

CLO 2 On successful completion of the course, students should be able to apply legal conceptions of the law to a different array of cryptocurrencies and to the legal issues that have arisen since the introduction of these new currencies. 

CLO 3 On successful completion of the course students should be able to describe and critique the impact of technological and monetary innovation in contemporary legal orders, and the relative contributions of legislators, regulators, courts, code designers, social movements in addressing the novelty represented by these new forms of money and assets

2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)

Please refer to the following link:

LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/

JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-plo/

2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course

PLO A PLO B PLO C PLO D PLO E PLO F
CLO 1
CLO 2
CLO 3

Assessment(s)

3.1 Assessment Summary

Assessment task Due date Weighting Feedback method* Course learning outcomes
Participation in class  N/A 10% 3 1, 2, 3
Online multiple-choice questions  TBC 30% 1 1.2
Summative Essay  TBC 60% 1, 3 1, 2, 3
*Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher)
1 A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle
2 Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle
3 Individual review meeting upon appointment
4 Group review meeting
5 In-class verbal feedback

3.2 Assessment Detail

To be advised by course convenor(s).

3.3 Grading Criteria

Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf

Learning Activities

4.1 Learning Activity Plan

Seminar 3-hour seminars in an intensive mode in June semester
Private study time: 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks

Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.

4.2 Details of Learning Activities

Part I. Legal conceptions of money

I.A. Markets and currency: Hayek 

I.B. The Constitutional concept of money 

I.C. Modern Monetary Theory 

I.D. Code and Law 

I.E. Legal Tender 

I.F. Independent Central Banks 

 

Part II. The Legal nature of Cryptocurrencies

II.A. Blockchain and the most important Cryptos 

II.B. Comparative analysis of case law on Bitcoin and XRP 

II.C. Regulators and the legal nature of cryptocurrencies: money, security, property 

II.D. NFTs and Smart Contracts: technological features and case law 

II.E. Central Bank digital Currencies 

Learning Resources

5.1 Resources

Reading materials: Reading materials are posted on Moodle
Core reading list: TBA
Recommended reading list: TBA

5.2 Links

Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/