The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts and Smart Dubai have teamed up to create the world’s first ‘Court of the Blockchain’ to explore how to aid verification of court judgments for cross-border enforcement, it was announced on Monday.
According to DIFC Courts and Smart Dubai, the partnership is a key first step towards creating a blockchain-powered judiciary which, in turn, will streamline the judicial process, remove document duplications and drive improved efficiencies across the legal ecosystem.
In the future, research will focus on how to handle disputes arising from private and public blockchains, with regulation and contractual terms encoded within ‘smart’ contracts. At the moment, blockchain-based smart contract transactions are irrevocable, with no technical means to unwind a transaction.
In a statement, the joint DIFC Courts-Smart Dubai task force said that the will work to model smart contracts across the blockchain that incorporate logic and allow for various forms of exceptions and conditions for seamless and efficient dispute resolution.
“The taskforce is in line with our guiding principle to deliver courts as a service, powered by technology and extended through cooperation agreements and alliances,” said Amna Al Owais, chief executive and registrar of DIFC Courts.
