When I started this blog in 2016 I called it Blockchain Legal because I was interested in exploring the intersection of commerce, law and blockchain technology. I wanted to get my head around how they would intersect and what opportunities that may present.
The team behind the Mattereum project are ‘A listers’ in the blockchain space and their project seems to be precisely at this intersection. Their first test project is to put a Stradivarius on the Ethereum blockchain, but not just tokenise the asset (which is no big deal these days!), they plan to have real world contracts (Ricardian contracts) govern all aspects of the assets life, including when it can be played, who can play it, insurance, storage, maintenance and the like.
Obviously the Stradivarius is a demonstration project, their platform can be used to register all types of assets and set out the rights and obligations that are attached to those assets. Most importantly their platform sets out how those right and obligations can be enforced using existing legal systems.
This project creates at least two opportunities for enterprising lawyers :
1. become a registered arbitrator
2. become an expert/specialist in Ricardian contracts
There are also opportunities to become a specialist register holder a coder specialising in law and many other opportunities.