ANALYSIS: Served by a Cartoon Ape? Summons Via NFTs Are Here

Serving a complaint and a court summons on a defendant is one of the first steps in legal proceedings. Identifying who the defendant is and where the defendant is located can be a challenge itself, especially when the alleged wrongful acts occurred in cyberspace under the guise of anonymous accounts.

Courts have routinely permitted service via email and other digital messaging platforms when personal service is impossible. Now, jurisdictions across the country are permitting “service on the blockchain” as a new method for notifying defendants of claims against them.

The cultural relevance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may be at an ...