DARTE Rome 2.0

The first DARTE session of 2026 (and our 27th in total) was dedicated to supporting the implementation of the UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law (DAPL Principles).

Organised with the support of the European Commission and held in close collaboration with UNIDROIT, this session brings together leading experts from common and mixed law jurisdictions. We look forward to opening remarks from Prof. Ignacio Tirado, Secretary General of UNIDROIT, and a key note from Dr. Joachim Schwerin, European Commission.

⚖️ Expert impulses included

🟠 Prof. Louise Gullifer focuses on how to make security interests effective against third parties → Control as a new anchor for third-party effectiveness beyond registration regimes

🟠 Olayimika Oyebanji talked about lessons learned from the FTX insolvency and lack of protection of digital asset creditors from Nigeria

🟠 Prof. Charles W Mooney, Jr., turned to proprietary rights vs. control in tokenisation structures → When ownership matters - and when it does not

The DAPL Principles establish clear private-law rules for digital assets - particularly where control, proprietary effects, third-party effectiveness, custody, secured transactions, insolvency, and cross-border enforcement are concerned. 

🔍 Based on the three expert impulses, we discussed 

🔸 How do the DAPL Principles interact with existing national doctrines?

🔸 Where do they challenge entrenched concepts?

🔸 Where can they realistically guide legislative reform and judicial interpretation?

This session built on an earlier DARTE roundtable at UNIDROIT focused on civil law jurisdictions (you can find the report here) and now turns explicitly to common and mixed law systems.