Bitcoin and public policy in the field of international commercial arbitration

The Western Continental Greece Court of Appeal was recently confronted with the question whether a foreign arbitral award granting damages in bitcoin is compatible with substantive public policy. Within the framework of the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, it ruled that the recognition of such an award (rendered in the US) runs contrary to Greek public policy. Cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, favors tax evasion and facilitates economic crime, causing insecurity in commercial transactions to the detriment of the national economy.