The keynote examined the ways in which the arbitral process might adapt to be relevant to the values of the Web3 economy, and notably by taking a fresh look at due process. As ways of doing business evolve, as new types of commercial transactions emerge, so the nature of the disputes arising out of these transactions changes, as does the vector for their resolution. Just as commercial arbitration historically flourished because industry-specific disputes demanded decision-makers who were knowledgeable in the given industry and respected by their peers, so the current reality of e-commerce is giving rise to a new breed of cross-border, high-volume, low-value, one-shot disputes.
The resolution of such disputes through traditional processes are ill-suited, premised as they are on due process measures that are time-reliant. This increasingly dominant voice in the marketplace prompts the question of whether a less time-consuming approach to arbitration’s traditional reliance on due process, leveraging technological tools, might constitute an acceptable trade-off to elicit a speedier, consensus-based, cheaper decision, thereby delivering more satisfaction to e-commerce users, and thus garnering more trust.
Sophie Nappert is an arbitrator in independent practice, based in London.
