High Court upholds jurisdiction challenge in Nexo ownership claim
On 5 March 2025, the High Court handed down judgment in Iankov v Kantchev & Ors [2025] EWHC 495 (Comm). The underlying dispute – valued by the Claimant at over USD 800 million – concerns the ownership of the Nexo group, a cryptocurrency business. The Nexo parties sought the strike-out/summary judgment of part of the claim, and further sought to challenge jurisdiction pursuant to a range of other Gateways under Practice Direction 6B para 3.1 – including by reference to injunctive relief (Gateway 2), trust (Gateways 11, 12C, 12E, 15, 15A, and 15B), and connection with existing proceedings in the jurisdiction (Gateways 3, 4A, and prospective consolidation).
The strike-out/summary judgment and jurisdiction applications both succeeded. The judgment will be of interest to practitioners for its detailed discussion of the principles to be applied in a jurisdictional challenge and the scope of the Gateways. The judgment also concerned the assessment of claims brought against an English entity in the group, used as an anchor defendant to ground jurisdiction against the rest of the business, including the prospect of a claim for rectification under s. 125(3) of the Companies Act.
The Nexo parties were represented by David Quest KC and Judy Fu, instructed by Martin Ward, Oliver Shipway, and Charles White of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP. David and Judy also act for Nexo in related proceedings (Shulev v Nexo Capital & Ors), instructed by Martin Ward, Samuel Andrew, and Charles White of Eversheds.
Access the judgment in full here.
