Relaxation of the Platypus hackers: criminal law powerless?

04.12.2023
Relaxation of the Platypus hackers: criminal law powerless?
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On 1 December 2023, the Paris judicial court acquitted the suspects in the Platypus Finance hack. For lawyer Victor Charpiat (Kramer Levin), this decision is questionable for several reasons, not least because it equates 'smart contracts' with conventional contracts.

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Victor Charpiat

Victor Charpiat is Head of Legal & Compliance at Spiko, a Paris-based financial services firm that provides daily-paying interest products on cash. He has held this role since January 2025. Spiko was founded in 2023 and has raised $25.8M in total funding.

Prior to joining Spiko, Charpiat spent over six years at the Paris office of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, where he worked as an associate specializing in fintech, cryptocurrencies, and PSAN (Prestataire de Services sur Actifs Numériques) matters. Between January 2022 and January 2023, he founded Kolat, a financial services company based in the Paris area. Before Kramer Levin, he worked at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Paris from April 2017 to October 2018 in the corporate general practice group, having completed a final internship there earlier that year. He also held a legal tech internship at 11.100.34 Avocats Associés in late 2016. He holds law degrees from Sciences Po Paris and Université Paris II-Panthéon Assas.

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