Blockchain Will Help Law Become Smarter And A Digital God — Senator Ihenyen

* Blockchain for Lawyers 102 comes up 5th October 2019, Abuja FCT.

Lead Partner at Infusion Lawyers, Senator Ihenyen, Blockchain will help law become smarter and a digital god. Blockchain will increasingly help law become smarter, thus becoming a digital god—invincible and invisible; omnipresent and omniscient—transparently balancing, controlling, and regulating competing interests in contracts, records, and transactions without the law being too much with us.

Mr made this statement while delivering a lecture on Blockchain for Lawyers 101, which was held on Friday 5^th July, 2018 in Lagos. The programme which was a one-day training program on Blockchain technology from a legal perspective started with a 1995 video about the Internet by one of the resource persons, Linus Kingdom, Managing Editor of eBlockbuzz, who introduced participants to Blockchain technology in an interactive session. The video which opened the mind of participants, made them hunger for the topic ahead.

Part one of the courses taken by Mr. Ihenyen was an introduction to Blockchain. Here, Mr Ihenyen identified why Blockchain matters to lawyers and then discussed Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Whitepaper and how it is related to Blockchain technology. He spoke on the Characteristics of Blockchain and its types.

Mr Ihenyen specially spoke on the three topics, Tokenization & Classification of Tokens; Crowdsales and Virtual Assets, Structure, Risks, and Best Practices; and Cryptocurrency Exchanges. Here, he lectured about the classifications of Token, and the five dimensions for classifying them. He shared knowledge on the four different types of crowdsales, namely Initial Coin Offering (ICO), Initial Token Offering (IT0), Initial Exchange Offering (IEO), and Securities Token Offering (STO) with real-life examples of each type and the legal consequences of each from a regulatory compliance point of view. He also touched on cryptocurrency exchanges, their types, and their roles in the cryptocurrency space.

Mr. Ihenyen highlighted centralized and decentralized exchanges as the two types of exchanges, bringing out the strengths and weaknesses of each one, both from a data-breach and cybersecurity point of view and regulatory compliance point of view. Another sub-topic was Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation and Consumer Protection wherein the use of Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Combating Financing in Terrorism (CFT) as checks against consumer, financial, and security risks in the often anonymous and risky world of cryptocurrencies were considered. He also spoke about smart contracts, adding that, learning how to write same would become necessary.

Concluding, many participants gave comments about what they learnt and how they saw the programme.  Mukthar Mustapha, Legal Officer, Access Bank Plc said that Blockchain for Lawyers 101 was an insightful, educative well delivered training. “It provided a very good foundation for professionals, especially lawyers, with an interest in blockchain and how it can be utilized by lawyers in providing legal services,” he added.

Emeka Nwadioke, Esq, Lead Partner of Emeka Nwadioke & Co, Lagos also said that the programme was very insightful. “I am definitely better informed about this emerging area which may yet have a critical impact on economies and may raise serious legal issues in no distant time,” he affirmed.

A Co-Founder of Young African Initiative (YAI), Champion Olatunji, also said that the Blockchain for Lawyers 101 training program was insightful. The trainers, Mr. Senator Ihenyen and Mr. Linus, structured the course outline in a demystified way, making it easy to understand the basic concepts. How do you easily understand an abstract concept like“Blockchain” in 8 hours? This could only be taught by a seasoned lawyer and expert, Senator Ihenyen. Blockchain for Lawyers 101, organized by infusion lawyers, has set the pace. I look forward to the second part.”

With all comments put together, it was obvious that participants cannot but wait curiously for the second edition. Blockchain for Lawyers 101 was put together by the African Blockchain Education Tour powered by eBlockbuzz in partnership with Infusion Lawyers. The next edition of Blockchain for Lawyers 101 comes up 5 October 2019, Abuja FCT.