Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #KeysAreNotAssets
Most recents (2)
On the agenda for next week's Wyoming Legislative Blockchain Task Force is the topic of prohibiting being being compelled to produce a private key. You can still be compelled by courts to transfer a digital asset or prove control of an asset using a public key. #KeysAreNotAssets 
There is some prior discussion on this topic starting with my original thread on twitter:
And and further discussions in this thread after the last Blockchain Task Force meeting:
I've been diving into a legal problem that #KeysAreNotAssets—a court judgement should not compel you to transfer keys, as they are not designed to be transferred. Instead, the court should only ask you to transfer the digital assets held by the keys and controlled by you.
While investing this problem, I ran across a very old legal concept of "feoffment with livery of seisin" which oddly corresponds more accurately to use of keys on blockchain, as it not a contract but is evidence that a transfer took place. legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Livery+of+Seis… /ht @scottldavid
Another topic related is that there may be some general doctrine in contract law that prevent courts from compelling "specific performance" when there could be harm to the promisor or to their autotomy. Thus a key which protects many things shouldn't be compelled. /ht @connbrown1
