Henry Reid co-authors article on crypto-asset recovery for Oxford Law Pro’s Expert Essentials, Oxford University Press

Writing for peer reviewed Oxford Law Pro’s Expert Essentials, Outer Temple Chambers’ barrister Henry Reid and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets Matt Green of Lawrence Stephens provide a practical guide on the recovery of misappropriated crypto-assets.

Henry Reid and Matt Green’s article was published in Oxford Law Pro, 14 May 2025, and can be found here.

Following the loss of $1m of the stablecoin Tether, Henry and Matt explore the practical issues of asset recovery – including the use of blockchain analytics reports, dealing with crypto exchanges and pursuing persons unknown – as well as the legal considerations.

The article begins by discussing an example of a scam in which the claimants transfer one million Tether to persons unknown, considering the movement of these assets across the blockchain and their subsequent deposit at crypto exchanges.

Henry and Matt then analyse the viability of potential legal proceedings, discussing potential routes to recover the misappropriated assets, and outline how to approach cryptocurrency exchanges at a pre-action stage.

Their article concludes with a narrative on preparing an ex parte application against these persons unknown, as well as seeking a worldwide freezing injunction to prevent the dissipation of the stolen crypto and seeking disclosure from the crypto exchanges to identify customers who have received the traceable proceeds.

Find out more

Henry’s practice covers a wide array of commercial, corporate and financial services matters with an emphasis on commercial litigation, contentious and non-contentious financial services, sanctions, banking and finance, fintech and regulatory investigations. Since moving to the Bar in 2022, Henry has been ranked by Legal 500 as a “Rising Star” in both Banking and Finance and Financial Services Regulation as well as a Leading Junior in respect of Crypto and Blockchain assets.

To find out more, contact Lexie Johnson on + 44 (0) 207 427 0801 or Andy Hunter on +44 (0)20 7427 4905 for a confidential discussion.

External Publications, News 3 Jun, 2025