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Merging crypto and ESG On 15 September 2022 the long-awaited transition to a 'proof-of-stake' consensus mechanism on Ethereum—referred to as 'The Merge'—finally took place. This move had environmental objectives at its core, marking a departure from the energy-intensive 'proof-... How to draft intragroup loans post-Blackrock to avoid transfer pricing problems Following the Upper Tribunal's decision in BlackRock that third party covenants (i.e. not from the borrower itself) could not be taken into account in determining the hypothetical arm's length loan, a commonly asked question is whether it is now necessary... Exclusive jurisdiction clauses and software licences – High Court reminds us that they’re not so simple When you are ‘buying’ (in this case, licensing) software, you want to know the risks associated with the deal. One key risk is where you could be sued under the licence. However, the recent High Court decision in IBM v LZLABS has highlighted some of the l... Acquiring start-ups under the improved R&D regime On 20 July 2022, the UK Government released draft legislation intended to implement a number of changes to the research and development (R&D) tax relief regime in the UK. The reliefs available are different for SMEs and larger companies, and the changes l... Privacy-enhancing technologies: what are they and when do you use them? New ICO guidance helps explain On 7 September, the ICO published its draft guidance on the use of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs). The draft forms the latest chapter of the ICO’s new guidance on anonymisation and pseudonymisation which it is publishing in stages as part of its co... Organisations could face new security requirements under ‘cyber duty to protect’ plans? Government call for information suggests new security requirements could be introduced to protect online accounts and user data from hackers Last year saw a 159% increase in unauthorised access to personal information (including hacking) and an 89% rise i... And then there were three...Law Commission digital asset reform proposes 3rd class of personal property In the introduction to its recent consultation on Digital Assets, the Law Commission states that it is proposing few changes to the law, but that the reforms it does recommend are foundational. Tech lawyers digesting its proposal for the explicit recognit... Taxpayer wins double tax treaty purpose test case With Article 7 of the OECD's Multilateral Instrument containing a Principal Purpose Test (or PPT) tax authorities, taxpayers and tax advisers alike are going to have to spend more time in the future considering when an arrangement or transaction might be ... UK advances multinational top-up tax despite mostly a lack of progress elsewhere The US has finally passed some tax legislation in the form of the Inflation Reduction Act. But before you get too excited, it does not implement either of the two pillars of international tax reform. Disappointingly, there are no changes to the US GILTI r... Tornado Cash: US Treasury sanctions virtual currency mixer On Monday 8 August the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, which operates on the Ethereum blockchain and which, in the words of OFAC, "indiscriminately facilitates anonymo...