A leading cryptocurrency exchange was defending a dispute, which involved customer claims regarding unsupported tokens mistakenly loaded to the exchange’s platform. FTI Technology’s Blockchain & Digital Assets team was engaged to provide digital forensics expertise, investigatory support and digital assets advising.

Our Role

FTI Technology’s Blockchain & Digital Assets practice was retained due to the team’s extensive work in cryptocurrency disputes. The team provided:

  • Expert report for the court outlining technical expertise of how cryptocurrency exchanges function, the ways exchanges interact with tokens and how the technical process differs for cryptocurrencies. This insight demonstrated that the case facts were supported by expected outcomes.
  • Analysis of the opposing side’s expert witness testimony arguing that if a party has access to the seed phrase of a token, they also have the ability to transfer and interact with funds. Using this logic, the opposing side argued that the customer’s tokens could and should be returned.
  • Testimony detailing the development of functionality of the client’s exchange. This included in-depth technical demonstration of the underlying infrastructure and its design to restrict access to customer seed phrases, as a means to mitigate risk of theft. FTI Technology’s experts provided extensive evidence that the client did not have any means to return unsupported tokens until the technology was coded to recognize the token.