CRYPTOASSETS AS AN OBJECT OF DIVISION: EVIDENTIARY AND EVALUATIVE CHALLENGES IN CONTEMPORARY FAMILY LAW

Abstract

The marriage ends. Bitcoin remains—hidden, volatile, untraceable in the wrong hands. The vertiginous advance of cryptoassets imposes a set of challenges on family law for which the Brazilian legal system was not prepared and is still in its infancy in terms of answers. Bitcoin, Ethereum, non-fungible tokens, stablecoins—digital assets that were purchased with the couple's money, that grew or plummeted during their cohabitation, and that now need to be found, evaluated, and divided by a judge who, often, has never operated a digital wallet in their life. This article examines the legal nature of crypto-assets, their qualification as divisible property, the concealment mechanisms that blockchain paradoxically facilitates, the procedural instruments available to track what a spouse acting in bad faith hides, the unsolvable problem of volatility in valuation, and the central—yet underutilized—role of digital forensic expertise. The conclusion is unsettling: the law has the foundations. What is lacking is urgency.