Knowledge & Insights

Singapore’s first reported virtual currency dispute is headed to trial amid measures to preserve confidentiality of information, following the refusal of the Singapore International Commercial Court ("SICC") to grant summary judgment in B2C2 Ltd v Quoine Pte Ltd [2017] SGHC(I) 11 and the SICC’s orders for document production and appointment of an independent expert in B2C2 Ltd v Quoine Pte Ltd [2018] SGHC(I) 04.

Several interesting questions are expected to be determined at the trial of this action, including: • What is meant when a contract states that fulfilled orders are "irreversible"?
• Can a contract validly provide that one party may unilaterally change any of its terms without informing the other party of the change?
• Can a term which is capable of having contractual effect but which is contained in a document which does not have contractual force be incorporated into a contract?
• In this case, would the contracts constituted by the fulfilled orders be void under the common law doctrine of unilateral mistake?

These are issues on which the court’s guidance will be eagerly anticipated, especially in light of the continued growth of virtual currencies and other fintech products and services and the yet-unanswered questions of how conventional legal principles will evolve to deal with such innovations.
 

If you have any queries or would like to know more about how these changes may impact you, please contact:

Joy TAN
Joint Head – Commercial & Corporate Disputes Practice
Joint Head – Corporate Governance & Compliance Practice
Joint Head – Financial Services Regulatory Practice
d +65 6416 8138
e joy.tan@wongpartnership.com
Click here to see Joy’s CV.

LAM Chung Nian
Head – Intellectual Property, Technology and Media,
Telecommunications and Data Protection Practices 
d +65 6416 8271 
e chungnian.lam@wongpartnership.com
Click here to see Chung Nian’s CV.

TIAN Sion Yoong
Partner - Financial Services Regulatory Practice
d +65 6416 2488
e chungnian.lam@wongpartnership.com
Click here to see Sion Yoong's CV.