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  • Lo Furneaux
    • Jun 2, 2021
    • 2 min read

Insolvency Practitioners Association Annual Conference 2021

Our founder Aidan Larkin (Co-founder and CEO) was invited to speak at this year’s Insolvency Practitioners Association’s (IPA) Annual Conference on 28th April discussing the management and selling of seized and confiscated crypto assets, as well as the challenges this unique asset category presents to the insolvency sector.

The IPA is an organisation for those in insolvency practice or involved in insolvency-related work. They license and regulate these industry professionals in the UK under insolvency and anti-money laundering regulations, working to raise professional standards through training, benchmarking, networking and best practice sharing. The IPA currently has around 2000 members and students, both individual and business. It is the largest of the four recognised professional bodies identified for the purposes of authorising and regulating insolvency practitioners in the UK.


Aidan explored the different strategies used to approach crypto asset recovery around the world by other professionals by utilising a range of both UK and overseas case studies. The aim of the session was to give attendees a solid understanding of the range of pitfalls and possibilities around crypto assets to inform their future decision making processes, as well as knowing the options available when dealing with crypto assets.


Aidan compared the logic behind the value of crypto and NFTs to that of Kurt Cobain’s cardigan and guitar being sold at auction for $6m. This is especially interesting given the recent news that footage from Kurt Cobain’s last photo shoot has been given the NFT treatment.


A bundle of 104 images from ‘The Last Session’, which took place a few months before his death in the spring of 1994, is currently being auctioned, with the top bid of 50.0 ETH being worth over $128k at the time of writing. A portion of the proceeds will go to the JED Foundation, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention and the promotion of mental well-being among teens in America.


A screenshot of the auction page - on the left is an image of Kurt Cobain between two brown haired female fans. The image has a red marker pen box around it. On the right is an image of Kurt Cobain lighting a cigarette with a match. It has a blue marker pen box and a red marker pen circel around it. In both images Kurt is wearing a grey hoody, flat cap, white wide rimmed sunglasses and a leopard print jacket. Underneath both images in the centre are the words current top bid and under that 50.0 ETH
Kurt Cobain's last photoshoot is being sold as an NFT currently.

As Bitcoin, NFTs and other blockchain based crypto assets in general continue to dominate headlines around the world, understanding the risks they present whilst separating fact from fiction, is more important than ever.

If you would like to know more about the challenges presented by the management of crypto assets, contact connect@assetreality.com

For press enquiries, contact comms@assetreality.com

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