Arbitrating Cryptocurrency Disputes: Enforceability, Procedure, And Emerging Legal Challenges

Abstract

The rise of cryptocurrency, with its decentralised, borderless, and pseudonymous nature, poses significant challenges to traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. This paper examines how arbitration can effectively resolve cryptocurrency disputes, focusing on three interrelated dimensions: enforceability, procedural adaptation, and emerging legal challenges. It considers whether blockchain-based contracts and arbitration agreements are legally binding under domestic law and the New York Convention, explores procedural innovations for managing pseudonymous parties, digital asset tracing, and secure evidence handling, and assesses remedies, including token transfers, asset valuation, and enforcement against decentralised or anonymous entities. Using doctrinal and comparative analysis of institutional rules and leading crypto disputes, the study finds that arbitration offers a viable solution but requires specialised expertise, procedural innovation, and legislative clarity. The paper recommends adopting Crypto Integrated Arbitration Rules to ensure enforceability, procedural certainty, and effectiveness in resolving disputes within the evolving digital asset economy.

Keywords: Cryptocurrency Arbitration, Enforceability, Procedural Innovation, Digital Asset Disputes, Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/152-01

Publication date: May 28^th 2026