Tulip Trading Ltd v Bitcoin Association for BSV & others

For many, the big question in recent times has been where developers of emerging publicly adopted projects will fit within regulation and whether they could be held accountable for open source code which has ultimately been adopted and applied by end users. 

The claimant here brought a claim against 16 developers alleging that they owed fiduciary and common law duties under English Law for losses incurred due to an alleged hack. The claimant argued that these developers had owed a duty to take positive actions to remedy the alleged loss. In its judgement, the court found that no such duties exist. 

With the unsettling risk of the industry being stifled looming in the background, this judgement represents a ground breaking step towards future development. There is a clear disconnect between the creation of a tool and its application, adaption and use by people, and within a rapidly evolving space, to slow down development could be catastrophic. It will be interesting to see how this judgement is treated in future hearings and how it will influence the industry.