Introduction

The digitalization of the economy and society has given rise to new services in different business sectors such as e-commerce and finance (FinTec) including insurance (InsurTec). All of these phenomena have profound effects on economic activities in multiple ways and have created various policy concerns in cyberspace and fundamental challenges to traditional legal systems. Furthermore, the recent development of cryptocurrencies (e.g., bitcoin) or digital currencies (e.g., libra) has brought a variety of challenges. On the one hand, it has made it much more difficult to determine the international adjudicatory jurisdiction of courts and the applicable law over civil and commercial disputes. On the other hand, it has menaced the monetary sovereignty that was traditionally considered a core authority of sovereign states. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.