As investors continue to seek a safe haven after the collapse of crypto exchanges, cryptocurrency companies have begun to resort to new ways to restore confidence. The most important issue in the market is whether cryptocurrency companies have enough assets to cover their customers' funds.

Mergers and acquisitions transactions, which has reached a global record level of 5.9 trillion dollars in 2021, are considered as one of the legal transactions with the highest potential for disputes, even though its grounds for disputes are striven to be reduced or at least brought to a foreseeable level by detailed agreements. Agreements and afterwards transactions that comply with the intentions of the parties may result in unintended consequences later. Due to geopolitical tensions, soaring inflation, turmoil in finance and energy sectors, more disputes have been arisen after the closing of M&A transactions comparing to last year. That is with respect to Berkeley Research Group’s third-annual M&A Disputes Report (“Report”), which is prepared with contributions from some of the world’s top lawyers, private equity professionals and leading experts. Report brings forth a broad perspective, on how the current market environment has changed the essence of disputes.

COVID-19 is over – well, almost over. We are now left with the aftermath of a baby boom, some Bored Apes, and the Metaverse. All these new phenomena that surged during the pandemic eventually turned their attention to law firms, for wide-ranging legal considerations associated with all kinds of communication, from the internet, to e-commerce, to OTT, and telecommunications. Technology, media, and telecommunications, otherwise known as TMT, are now the fastest-moving areas.

"In 10 years you won’t go to meetings – you’ll digitally teleport to them." Meta Founder, Mark Zuckerberg

"The total insurtech industry value in 2022 was $5.4 billion. Revenue forecast for 2030 is $152 billion." Grand View Research, Insurtech Market Size, Industry Report, 2022-2030

In the previous article, we have included information about the value of cryptocurrencies in the metaverse within the framework of the financial metaverse and the transactions that constitute the subject of the financial metaverse. Now, from the perspective of the financial metaverse, we will discuss the banking sector, the current status of cryptocurrencies in Turkey, and whether the digital products obtained as a result of financial transactions can be evaluated within the scope of property rights by the courts, the compliance processes and legal aspects that should be considered in Meta-Fi.

“As the crypto industry grows, there will be an increasing array of financial activities on the public blockchain. That's why we want to make sure we're ready to not only support that but also provide relevant services.” Tyrone Lobban, JP Morgan's head of Blockchain Launch and Onyx Digital Assets

Cemile Demir Gokyayla has joined KP Law as a Partner and Head of the firm's Arbitration/ADR practice along with her team.

Contributed by KP Law.

The labor markets have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic globally and Turkey had its fair share of lockdowns, economic downturns, and unprecedented shifts in the business landscape. One of these structural changes in, and challenges for, the Turkish market is remote working.

In the past few years, Turkey has experienced a veritable tech miracle. A swath of start-ups, primarily in the gaming and e-commerce sectors, has attracted multi-billion-dollar investments and achieved record valuations. Two companies have even reached decacorn status – a valuation of over USD 10 billion.

Recent decades have witnessed economic turmoil, crises, recessions, inflation surges across the world, and, lately, the long-lasting effects of the pandemic globally. During these downturns, the issue of financial restructuring has surfaced as a key concern of policymakers, financial institutions, and market players.

Kinstellar and Paksoy, working with Linklaters' Paris office, have advised Plastic Omnium on its EUR 520 million acquisition of Varroc Lighting Systems from Varroc Engineering Limited. PwC Legal, working with Willkie Farr & Gallagher, advised Varroc on the sale of its automotive lighting systems business in the Czech Republic. White & Case reportedly advised a syndicate of banks on financing the transaction. Khaitan & Co, Creel Garcia-Cuellar Aiza y Enriquez, Lefosse, and Bennani & Associes reportedly advised Plastic Omnium in India, Mexico, Brazil, and Morocco, respectively. 

Today, the futuristic enthusiasm which was created in minds with the term "artificial intelligence" is accompanied by some anxiety for uncertainty. The term "artificial intelligence", about which a wide variety of definitions have already been made, means systems or machines that imitate human intelligence to perform tasks and can gradually improve itself with the information it collects. Autonomous delivery robots that can bring our orders to our home, a chess robot that breaks its opponent's finger in an uncompromising way because of a faulty move, robot surgeons which successfully perform abdominal surgery without any help and many other AI algorithms that can write poetry, produce visual works, and write articles for newspapers…

The Turkish Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (“E-Commerce Law”) adopted in 2014, basically regulates the responsibilities of e-commerce service providers ("Service Provider") and e-commerce intermediary service providers (“Intermediary Service Provider”), the contracts made over electronic communication tools and their obligations to provide information based on electronic commerce, and the sanctions that can be applied. The E-Commerce Law also aims to provide an environment of trust in the electronic commerce market, protect personal data, the confidentiality of communication, and protect consumers in their transactions in the electronic commerce Marketplaces (“Marketplace”).

Recent developments such as economic crises, pandemics, climate crisis, green transformation and the increasing importance of compliance with strategies such as European Green Deal necessitates a sustainable and innovative finance approach in the world and in our country's capital markets. Therefore, the need for long-term funds to finance the investments required for the transition to a low-carbon economy and projects that contribute to environmental sustainability increases the importance of capital markets. In order to accelerate the sustainable development of our country, in the 2022 target announcements and draft guidelines of the Turkish Capital Markets Association and the Capital Markets Board; it is seen that innovative capital markets financing products related to environmental and social problems such as climate change are supported.

Open Banking doesn't just happen because regulations enforce it, it's commercially embraced as an opportunity to make a nation's financial infrastructure more efficient, more resilient, and better serve customers. We look forward to the opportunities it will bring to the economy and society as a whole. Open Banking Implementation Entity the 'OBIE' Implementation Auditor Imran Gulamhuseinwala, UK

Data protection legislations generally aim to protect the fundamental privacy rights of natural persons, to have more control over their personal data and to grant more rights over this data belonging to them. In blockchain technology, data protection and confidentiality must be taken into account whenever personal data of real persons are processed. In accordance with GDPR and KVKK legislation, a natural or legal person must be responsible for the establishment and management of the data recording system.