Blockchain Will Help Law Become Smarter And A Digital God – Senator Ihenyen

* Blockchain for Lawyers 102 comes up 5th October 2019,
Abuja FCT.

Lead Partner at Infusion Lawyers, Senator Ihenyen, Blockchain
will help law become smarter and a digital god. Blockchain will
increasingly help law become smarter, thus becoming a digital
god—invincible and invisible; omnipresent and
omniscient—transparently balancing, controlling, and regulating
competing interests in contracts, records, and transactions without
the law being too much with us.

Mr made this statement while delivering a lecture on Blockchain
for Lawyers 101, which was held on Friday 5^th July, 2018
in Lagos. The programme which was a one-day training program on
Blockchain technology from a legal perspective started with a 1995
video about the Internet by one of the resource persons, Linus
Kingdom, Managing Editor of eBlockbuzz, who introduced participants
to Blockchain technology in an interactive session. The video which
opened the mind of participants, made them hunger for the topic
ahead.

Part one of the courses taken by Mr. Ihenyen was an introduction
to Blockchain. Here, Mr Ihenyen identified why Blockchain matters
to lawyers and then discussed Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Whitepaper
and how it is related to Blockchain technology. He spoke on the
Characteristics of Blockchain and its types.

Mr Ihenyen specially spoke on the three topics, Tokenization
& Classification of Tokens; Crowdsales and Virtual Assets,
Structure, Risks, and Best Practices; and Cryptocurrency Exchanges.
Here, he lectured about the classifications of Token, and the five
dimensions for classifying them. He shared knowledge on the four
different types of crowdsales, namely Initial Coin Offering (ICO),
Initial Token Offering (IT0), Initial Exchange Offering (IEO), and
Securities Token Offering (STO) with real-life examples of each
type and the legal consequences of each from a regulatory
compliance point of view. He also touched on cryptocurrency
exchanges, their types, and their roles in the cryptocurrency
space.

Mr. Ihenyen highlighted centralized and decentralized exchanges
as the two types of exchanges, bringing out the strengths and
weaknesses of each one, both from a data-breach and cybersecurity
point of view and regulatory compliance point of view. Another
sub-topic was Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation and
Consumer Protection wherein the use of Know Your Customer (KYC),
Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Combating Financing in Terrorism
(CFT) as checks against consumer, financial, and security risks in
the often anonymous and risky world of cryptocurrencies were
considered. He also spoke about smart contracts, adding that,
learning how to write same would become necessary.

Concluding, many participants gave comments about what they
learnt and how they saw the programme.  Mukthar Mustapha,
Legal Officer, Access Bank Plc said that Blockchain for Lawyers 101
was an insightful, educative well delivered training. “It provided
a very good foundation for professionals, especially lawyers, with
an interest in blockchain and how it can be utilized by lawyers in
providing legal services,” he added.

Emeka Nwadioke, Esq, Lead Partner of Emeka Nwadioke & Co,
Lagos also said that the programme was very insightful. “I am
definitely better informed about this emerging area which may yet
have a critical impact on economies and may raise serious legal
issues in no distant time,” he affirmed.

A Co-Founder of Young African Initiative (YAI), Champion
Olatunji, also said that the Blockchain for Lawyers 101 training
program was insightful. The trainers, Mr. Senator Ihenyen and Mr.
Linus, structured the course outline in a demystified way, making
it easy to understand the basic concepts. How do you easily
understand an abstract concept like“Blockchain” in 8 hours? This
could only be taught by a seasoned lawyer and expert, Senator
Ihenyen. Blockchain for Lawyers 101, organized by infusion lawyers,
has set the pace. I look forward to the second part.”

With all comments put together, it was obvious that participants
cannot but wait curiously for the second edition. Blockchain for
Lawyers 101 was put together by the African Blockchain Education
Tour powered by eBlockbuzz in partnership with Infusion Lawyers.
The next edition of Blockchain for Lawyers 101 comes up 5 October
2019, Abuja FCT.

Subscribe ToNairalaw News!