Session IV – Beyond the Blockchain: A Practitioner's Playbook for Tracing, Seizing, and Recovering Digital Assets – Evan T. Miller
As cryptocurrency emerges as a potential tool for asset concealment, legal practitioners face the dual challenge of understanding a complex technology while fighting age-old obstructionist tactics. This session offers a comprehensive playbook that moves beyond technical jargon to deliver actionable legal strategies. I will begin by demystifying the fundamentals, explaining how cryptocurrency is stored (hot wallets, cold wallets, exchanges), moved, and obfuscated using tools like decentralized exchanges and mixers. Armed with this knowledge, I will then unveil powerful and often-overlooked investigative hooks, including how to leverage an opponent's tax returns and new IRS reporting requirements. The discussion will then pivot to courtroom strategy, offering tactics for drafting unavoidable discoveries and countering potential arguments and defenses. Finally, drawing from a bankruptcy practitioner's perspective, I will explore the cutting edge of digital asset law, including the powerful tools available to a trustee and the critical implications of the new UCC Article 12 for establishing legal "control" and priority over crypto collateral.
Key topics to be discussed:
- Crypto 101: The fundamentals
- Discovery: Using tax returns and other tools
- Obstruction: The excuses you'll hear
- Enforcement: Your legal toolbox
