BSV Blockchain recently had the opportunity to sit down with Jeffrey Golden to discuss the new Network Access Rules (NAR).
The NAR is the set of rules regulating the relationship between the BSV Association and the nodes on the BSV Network. They are based on the original Bitcoin Protocol rules and those set out in the Bitcoin white paper.
Golden, who assisted in drafting the NAR, is a specialist arbitrator, mediator and expert with broad experience in a wide range of capital markets matters, including swaps and derivatives, international equity and debt offerings, US private placements and listings, and mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures.
He has acted extensively for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), was a principal author of ISDA’s master agreements and has appeared as an arbitrator and as an expert witness in several high-profile derivatives cases.
1. Good morning, Jeffrey. As a starting point, could you please introduce yourself and explain your role in drafting the Network Access Rules?
JG: Thanks for having me here today. As you have indicated, my name is Jeffrey Golden. I am a lawyer, practising out of chambers at 3 Hare Court, where I previously served as joint Head of Chambers. I am now King’s Council (Honorary) and Honorary Bencher at Middle Temple, one of the ends of the court. And an honorary fellow at my alma mater, the London School of Economics, where I formerly taught in the law department as a visiting professor.
I sometimes worry that honorary is a euphemism for old. But coming back to your question about my role in the project. It was my privilege to be part of an interdisciplinary team that was assembled to draft the Network Access Rules.
2. You touched on your legal history a little bit. Could you possibly go into your background in drafting some important financial documents?
JG: I began my legal career on Wall Street where as luck would have it, I was given the assignment to hold the pen. I think probably because, at that juncture in time, no one thought the project was important enough to give it to someone more senior.
But in any event, I held the pen for a small group of financial institutions, commercial and investment banks representing a then-fledgling derivatives industry – we call them swaps.
Back then, they had gathered to produce a standard contract rather than to continue to battle about which form each of them was presenting was the best. And again, it became my task over the next few decades, each time that contract was updated and revised again, it became my task to hold the pen.
I’m now advised that the ISDA master agreement supports something in the order of $700 trillion in outstanding derivatives trading. So I hope we got it right. But I think it was that experience of being a principal drafter of the master agreement and other industry standard documentation, alongside other financial documents and considerable research that we thought would be relevant as we undertook the ambitious project of producing the Network Access Rules.
We were also able to offer a combination of legal expertise about long-term relational contracts, coupled with the legal tech and fintech expertise of the team from D2LT. It’s this collaboration that got the project over the line.
3. Thanks, Jeffrey. Can you give us an overview of the new Network Access Rules and how they work?
JG: The Network Access Rules aim to provide a clear and reliable legal framework for the transaction processing on the BSV blockchain. To do this, they take effect as a multilateral contact between and among the BSV Association as the stewards for the network, and all the participating miners as well.
The rules also enable the Association to take legal and technical actions such as sending information messages such as alerting the mining nodes to breaches of the rules. All of this is to ensure that the ecosystem is well-equipped when encountering unlawful and dishonest behaviour on the network.
It’s all about creating greater clarity, certainty and stability which ensures greater detail. Until that point, it may have been assumed, but in the largest part has just not been available in the digital asset space.
4. Can you briefly explain why you decided to take on the NAR project and its historical importance?
We took comfort when we found an old 19th-century case where the court found a contract by performance. It dealt with a yacht race where the participants were held to be bound by the rules of the race as declared by the yacht club. Akber Datoo and I more recently published an article where we posited that digital assets in blockchain called out for similar lateral thinking.
And those were all the reasons why I took on the project. I was excited about the project. No roadmaps, cutting edge, all that. But I have to say now, looking back, the experience of working with the BSV Association was both extremely pleasurable and extremely informative. I got an education from it and I could certainly say without qualification that I’m glad I did.
5. Can you explain why the Network Access Rules are important from a regulatory standpoint?
Many commentators have brought up the governance challenges of decentralised networks such as the difficulty of combating cross-border crypto fraud. The Network Access Rules include enforcement mechanisms and in-arbitral processes that taken together provide a pretty straightforward means of resolving disputes and enhancing legal compliance across the global network.
So the creation of the Network Access Rules will also allow the BSV blockchain to continue to grow and grow in a steady, more certain and transparent fashion. Those are absolute imperatives, in turn, to ensure wider adoption of blockchain technology.
