This book offers a timely and in-depth analysis of how Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and metaverse technologies are reshaping key legal concepts and regulatory frameworks in the digital age.
As blockchain-based assets and immersive virtual environments gain traction across industriesfrom finance and art to gaming and social interactionthey challenge foundational assumptions about property, contract, jurisdiction, and democratic governance. NFTs and Metaverses versus Law explores the legal disruptions triggered by these technologies through a multidimensional structure that blends doctrinal insight with regulatory and policy relevance.
The volume is organized into six thematic parts: it opens by clarifying core terminology and the constitutional implications of digital governance, then addresses how NFTs interact with financial market rules and investor protection. It examines the redefinition of ownership through tokenization, the challenges of smart contract enforceability, the risks of market concentration in decentralized ecosystems, and the emerging tensions between data protection and personalization in virtual spaces. Throughout, the book highlights regulatory gaps and tensions, especially in transnational digital contexts where territorial sovereignty collides with borderless code. Drawing on developments in the European Unionsuch as the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the Digital Markets Act (DMA)the analysis connects legal theory with concrete regulatory responses. Accessible yet rigorous, this work speaks to scholars, practitioners, and regulators alike. It provides both analytical tools and practical perspectives for navigating legal change in an era where digital assets hold real-world value and virtual worlds increasingly intersect with our social, economic, and legal systems. NFTs and Metaverses versus Law does not merely describe a transformation in legal thinkingit contributes to shaping its direction.
Introduction.- Part I. NFTs and Metaverse: Definitions, Governance and
Constitutional Issues.- Navigating Virtual Words, the European Way.- The
Metaverse: Interoperability as Governance.- Metaverse: Yet another jeopardy
for the constitutional social contract?.- Part II. Financial markets.- NFTs
And EU Financial Markets Legislation.- A New Horizon for Financial Law and
Policy: Non-Fungible Tokens in the Metaverse.- The new EU framework for
crypto-assets: recent developments and main challenges ahead.- Part III.
Intellectual property.- NFTs: Copyright profiles--- and beyond.- The Uncanny
Token.- NFTs and IP: easier said than understood.- Part IV. Contract law.-
Smart contracts, NFT trading and weaker party protection.- Non-Fungible
Tokens (NFTs), Smart Contracts and Contracts: The need for Legal and
Technology Assurances.- Part V. Competition law.- Virtual Worlds and
Competition Issues: Same Problem, Same Solution.- Metaverses, Digital and
Competition Law: Whats New?.- Part VI Privacy, Data Protection and the
Market's voice.- Data Protection Challenges and Privacy Issues in the
Metaverse dimension.- Exploring the Metaverse: opportunities, risks, and the
path forward.
Fabiana Di Porto, PhD in Law (StrasbourgPerugia), MSc in Regulation (London School of Economics), Professor of Economic and Technology Law. She is a leading scholar on the intersections between law and innovative technologies, including metaverse, virtual worlds, and AI systems. She has authored or co-authored five books and over ninety academic articles and book chapters, with work featured in major international journals. She is a member of several international research groups, such as the expert group on Emerging Technologies within the UN Global Initiative on Citiverse (UNICC). Through her research Professor DiPorto contributes to shaping future-proof regulatory frameworks and technologies for AI-driven societies and virtual worlds.
Oreste Pollicino has graduated in law at Messina University and has a LL.M from the College of Europe in Brugges. He is full professor of constitutional law, Member of the Executive Board, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Vienna, Board Member, Digital Library, Italian Ministry of Culture, and Member of the European Commission Sounding Board of the Multistakeholder in the fight against online disinformation.
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