As commercial activity increasingly intertwines with applications of blockchain technology with participants around the world, courts have had to grapple with the personal jurisdiction implications of such arrangements. Will participants in these blockchain applications based outside the United States find themselves subject to U.S. jurisdiction when disputes arise, based on how they have conducted their activities? Two recent New York federal court decisions examined such questions under traditional personal jurisdiction principles and upheld exercising personal jurisdiction over nonresident defendants.

‘Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. v. Alibabacoin Found., 18-CV-2897 (JPO), 2018 WL 5118638 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 22, 2018), involved a suit by Alibaba Group Holding Limited, the parent corporation for a multinational web services conglomerate based abroad, against Alibabacoin Foundation and related parties to enjoin alleged trademark infringement, alleging they were using Alibaba’s trademarked names and symbols to promote sales of their “AlibabaCoin” cryptocurrency. The defendants, all based in Dubai and Belarus, argued that the New York court could not properly exercise personal jurisdiction over them in this action by a nonresident plaintiff.