Ownership Without Intermediaries

Comparing Cryptocurrency to Bearer Instruments

Jay Nanavati, JD, and Jacob Paikin

Proving one's ownership of cryptocurrency is relatively simple: Possession of a private key, regardless of how it was obtained, entitles its possessor to full control of the cryptocurrency. Unlike, for example, a car or a house, there is no certificate of title or deed that one must present before disposing of cryptocurrency. This possession model of de facto ownership, combined with the pseudonymity of cryptocurrency transactions, makes crypto easy to transfer rapidly and repeatedly. Advocates of cryptocurrency argue that such ease of transfer has significantly improved financial transactions. Cryptocurrency, they assert, removes transactional and accessibility barriers in areas underserved by the global financial system and radically improves the efficiency of commerce throughout the world.