Trending Now

All Articles

3449 Articles

The Benefits of Law Firm Funding

At some point in the business life cycle, every law firm could use a financial boost. Law firm funding helps firms and legal departments monetize pending litigation by providing non-recourse funds. This differs from standard business loans which are paid back fully with added interest. Pravati Capital details the benefits of non-recourse legal funding for firms. Firms that accept non-recourse funds can use the money to pursue cases, or for daily operations and investment in growth. Any type of law firm can make use of non-recourse law firm funding. It’s used by solo practitioners as well as Fortune 500 firms. The types of cases that tend to benefit the most from third-party legal funding are:
  • Shareholder litigation
  • Antitrust cases
  • Insolvency, bankruptcy, and debtor-in-possession matters
  • Various types of international and cross-jurisdictional litigation
  • Patent and IP disputes
  • Commercial law cases
  • Class action plaintiffs and defendants
Having an experienced funder in your corner is as vital to the success of a case as the right legal team.

Burford Capital Update On Business Performance And Potential US GAAP Conversion

Burford Capital Limited, the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today released the following statement on its performance for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and on matters relating to its potential conversion to US GAAP. Burford is scheduled to release its interim results on September 9, 2021. All figures in this disclosure are unaudited and presented on a Burford-only basis, unless otherwise stated. Certain definitions are provided below; additional definitions, reconciliations and information are set out in Burford's 2020 annual report, available at www.burfordcapital.com.
  • Record-breaking levels of new commitments and deployments
  • Portfolio returns rose and loss rates fell but case progress was relatively quiet with COVID delays noted
  • Considering US GAAP conversion at year-end
  • Non-cash accruals in the first half result in net accounting loss for the period; positive result on a cash basis
  • Liquidity position very strong with more than $430 million of Burford-only liquidity on hand
New business
  • $500+ million in new commitments; nearly $400 million in deployments
We saw robust levels of new business in the first half. We made new capital provision-direct commitments of over $500 million Group-wide, of which $284 million was Burford-only, more than four times higher than the first half of last year and above our prior record levels in the second half of 2019. We deployed $399 million Group-wide, of which $215 million was Burford-only, to a combination of new and existing capital provision-direct assets, more than three times our 1H 2020 level and well in excess of our prior record deployments in 1H 2018. Our trend towards larger and more complex new matters continued. Of our 14 new matters, none had commitment levels under $5 million while six were $20 million or above, including a new matter to which we committed and deployed $138 million on balance sheet and $139 million for our SWF partner between BOF-C and a new sidecar. This matter revolves around a number of antitrust claims against a large, financially strong multinational. This level of activity suggests that the slowdown in new business in early 2020 from COVID has moderated and that we are finding considerable opportunities to deploy capital. COVID delays and portfolio progress
  • Returns rose to 95% ROIC and realized losses fell to 0.5%
  • 43% of matters have seen COVID delays
  • Realized gains of $77 million in the period
We saw some strong portfolio successes in the first half – including achieving our full $103 million entitlement in the Akhmedov judgment enforcement matter (in addition to more than $5 million received in prior periods), validating our decision to fund matters like that despite their noise. Our returns increased somewhat, to 95% ROIC on concluded capital provision-direct assets since inception, driven by the 216% ROIC (and 67% IRR) on the Akhmedov matter on a GBP basis. On a USD basis, the Akhmedov matter generated a 233% ROIC (and a 71% IRR). We also had a remarkably low realized loss rate for the period of 0.5% of average portfolio at cost. However, as we have previously discussed, multiple waves of COVID have continued to have an impact on the pace and progression of matters in our portfolio. These issues are only a matter of timing; no clients have discontinued cases because of COVID delays and, indeed, as a result of how we often price our deals, our ultimate returns may increase because of the passage of time. We believe that 43% of our matters have incurred COVID-related delays, ranging from court date postponements to delays in the provision of discovery to slower settlement activity given the absence of a looming trial date to engender settlement. As a result (and perhaps due also just to normal volatility in portfolio activity), the portfolio as a whole was quiet in the period and generated lower levels of capital provision income than comparative periods. In short, almost nothing bad happened – just less happened than in some other periods. We had capital provision-direct realizations of $142 million during 1H 2021, on which we will see realized gains of approximately $77 million for the period. US GAAP conversion
  • Consideration of converting to US GAAP for December 31, 2021 reporting
  • Some balance sheet adjustments expected
We expect to remain a foreign private issuer for US purposes in 2022; our 2020 annual report discusses that status in depth. However, notwithstanding retaining foreign private issuer status for another year, we may well nonetheless proceed with our conversion to US GAAP; the Board will make a decision on that issue at its October meeting. If we do convert to US GAAP, our first half 2021 interim report will be our last report under IFRS, and beginning with our financial statements as of December 31, 2021, we would begin reporting under US GAAP. While most elements of our financial reporting would remain the same under both IFRS and US GAAP, including with respect to fair value, we expect to see an increase in both assets and liabilities due to changes in the approach to consolidation of subsidiaries. We will provide more details of these and any other adjustments in due course. Our consideration of converting to US GAAP has also caused us to examine the accounting practices of comparable US finance firms to identify certain common practices adopted by US GAAP issuers as we discuss below. Burford's compensation practices Burford's compensation practices are relevant to the accounting discussion that follows, so we provide detail here about our approach to incentive compensation. Burford uses four compensation components: base salary, annual bonus, stock grants and participation in the actual cash performance of litigation matters (which we call "carry" even though it is not technically participation in carried interest). We discuss our compensation practices in greater detail in our annual reports. Burford does not pay any incentive compensation – carry or bonus – based on non-cash fair value changes in our assets. We award carry on a vintage year basis. Thus, each year, we award eligible employees the right to receive a portion of the realized gains generated over time by the matters we originate financing for in that year. Then, in each following year, we look at the realized performance of all of the matters in a vintage in that year and make carry payments based on their collective performance in that year, so that realized losses reduce realized gains. So, for example, an eligible employee who joined Burford in 2017 will have received awards for each of the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintages, and we will test the performance of each of those vintages in each succeeding year and make carry payments accordingly. Those payments continue until each vintage is fully resolved. We set out below the percentage of realized gains in each vintage that has been awarded as carry.

Vintage year

% of realized gains awarded

2015

4

2016

4

2017

4

2018

6

2019

6

2020

8

2021

9

No carry applies to vintages prior to 2015. Change in compensation expense accruals
  • Move to non-cash accrual of compensation expense on fair value
  • One-time non-cash accrual of $45 million, driven by YPF-related asset carrying value
Given that we do not pay employee carry on the basis of unrealized fair value gains, pursuant to IAS 19 we have historically recognized compensation expense only upon realizations from our assets, without regard to fair value movements. However, as more cases have concluded and we have further validation of our predictive models in general and across asset types, our confidence in our modeling and valuation methodology has continued to increase and we believe it is appropriate to change our accounting estimate of compensation expense under IFRS and accrue compensation expense related to our carry plan as we make fair value adjustments. Moreover, we note that this is also the practice of a number of comparable US GAAP issuers, and we also believe that matching potential future gains with potential future expenses is desirable. Given our generally moderate levels of fair value change, these charges are not expected to be material. For each period going forward, including 1H 2021, we will accrue against new fair value gains at the rate shown for each vintage in the preceding table; for example, for 2019 vintage matters, for every $100 of net fair value increase, we will accrue $6 of compensation expense. In the event of fair value losses, the respective accrual would reverse. This accrual is an entirely non-cash event; we will still only crystallize and pay compensation upon realized gains. In the first half of 2021, based on all the fair value gains in the period, the expense accrual was less than $1 million. The question then arises as to the existing accumulation of fair value gains, which are predominantly composed of fair value gains on our YPF-related assets. For the sake of consistency, we are going to take a one-time non-cash charge of $45 million to align with the current balance sheet assets. This is a one-time charge related to prior fair value gains; 70% of it is due to the substantial carrying value of the YPF-related assets. While this is a large number, it is entirely non-cash and simply matches a future potential gain expressed through a fair value change with a future potential expense instead of leaving the related expense until the point of realization. None of this money is being paid out, nor will it be unless and until there are realized gains in the underlying matters. For perspective, our YPF-related cases would have to generate more than $1.6 billion in cash in a litigation outcome for the present YPF-related accrual to be paid in full; we cite that number for illustrative purposes only given the current carrying value and this does not constitute a projection of any expected outcome in the matter. Moreover, we did not pay incentive compensation based on the secondary market sales of those YPF-related assets. We believe our compensation levels are moderate and appropriate, and while this change in approach is both consistent with IFRS and will align us better with some other US GAAP issuers, it does not change our cash-focused approach to compensation and to running the business generally. Asset recovery
  • Terminated profit-sharing arrangement except as to a small number of grandfathered cases
  • One-time non-cash accrual of £25 million ($34 million)
The division between our asset recovery and core litigation finance businesses has continued to blur as they have both evolved, and in 2019 we stopped including asset recovery in our new initiatives segment and incorporated it into our main capital provision segment. In 2021, we have gone a step further and have fully integrated the asset recovery team into the core business. Previously, the team had operated with a separate P&L and a direct profit-sharing component dating from the acquisition of the business in 2015; at the time, we acquired the business for very little current cash and instead used a profit-sharing arrangement as the bulk of the economics. Now, the team participates in Burford's standard compensation programs, including our carry plan. However, the historical profit-sharing approach has been grandfathered with respect to a small number of cases that are at advanced stages of activity. The result of our change in estimating compensation expense to match accounting gains and these revised arrangements is that we will take a non-cash charge of £25 million ($34 million) relating to the carrying value of those matters. These amounts would only potentially be paid upon the receipt of substantial actual cash profits. Financial Results
  • Anticipated net loss of approximately $70 million given one-time non-cash accruals
  • Approximately $20 million profit after tax if considered on a cash basis
As usual at this stage of our financial reporting cycle, we continue to work through a variety of accounting and tax issues, including fair values, internally and with our auditors in advance of our September 9 interim results reporting date. However, based on our current state of understanding, the combined impact of the non-cash accruals discussed above and the moderate level of asset realizations in the period suggests that we will report a net loss after tax of approximately $70 million, the bulk of which is related to those non-cash accruals. Adjusting for non-cash items (particularly fair value adjustments and the non-cash accruals), non-IFRS profit after tax would be approximately $20 million. Liquidity
  • Strong liquidity position of over $430 million
Liquidity at June 30, 2021 was strong, with the aggregate of cash and cash management assets of over $430 million (which does not include the receipt of the $103 million in cash related to the Akhmedov matter in July). Christopher Bogart, Burford Capital's Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"We are very pleased with the level of new business activity we saw in the first half of 2021 and with the continuing strength of our portfolio, notwithstanding a fairly quiet period for portfolio resolutions. We believe that moving to US GAAP and positioning the business in the US capital markets mainstream will inure to the benefit of shareholders. We appreciate shareholders' continued support on this journey, which we believe will result in a larger, stronger, more highly valued company." Definitions and use of alternative performance measures We report our financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). IFRS requires us to present financials that consolidate some of the limited partner interests in funds we manage as well as assets held by our balance sheet where we have a partner or minority investor. We therefore refer to various presentations of our financial results, and funding configuration, as:
  • Consolidated refers to assets, liabilities and activities that include those third-party interests, partially owned subsidiaries and special purpose vehicles that we are required to consolidate under IFRS accounting. This presentation conforms to the presentation of Burford on a consolidated basis in our financials. The major entities where there is also a third-party partner in or owner of those entities include the Strategic Value Fund, BOF-C (our arrangement with a Sovereign Wealth Fund) and several entities in which Burford holds investments where there is also a third-party partner in or owner of those entities. Note that in our financial statements, our consolidated presentation is referred to as Group.
  • Burford standalone, Burford-only, Burford balance sheet only, "balance sheet" or similar terms refers to assets, liabilities and activities that pertain only to Burford itself, excluding any third-party interests and the portions of jointly owned entities owned by others.
  • Group-wide refers to Burford and its managed funds taken together, including those portions of the funds owned by third parties and including funds that are not consolidated into Burford's annual consolidated financials. In addition to the consolidated funds, Group-wide includes the Partners funds (our first three core litigation finance funds), Burford Opportunity Fund and Burford Alternative Income Fund and its predecessor.
We refer to our capital provision assets in two categories:
  • Direct, which includes all our legal finance assets (including those generated by asset recovery and legal risk management activities) that we have made directly (i.e., not through participation in a fund) from our balance sheet. We also include direct (not through a fund) complex strategies assets in this category.
  • Indirect, which includes our balance sheet's participations in one of our funds. Currently, this category is comprised entirely of our position in the Burford Strategic Value Fund.
We also use certain Alternative Performance Measures ("APMs"), which are not presented in accordance with IFRS, to measure the performance of certain of our assets including:
  • Return on invested capital (ROIC) is a measure of financial performance calculated by comparing the absolute amount of realizations from a concluded asset relative to the amount of expenditure incurred in funding that asset, expressed as a percentage figure. In this release, when we refer to our concluded case ROIC, we are referring to the ROIC on concluded and partially concluded capital provision direct assets on Burford's balance sheet since the inception of the company until the current date.
  • IRR is a discount rate that makes the net present value of a series of cash flows equal to zero and is expressed as a percentage figure. We compute IRR on concluded (including partially concluded) legal finance assets by treating that entire portfolio (or, when noted, a subset thereof) as one undifferentiated pool of capital and measuring actual and, if necessary, estimated inflows and outflows from that pool, allocating investment cost appropriately. IRRs do not include unrealized gains.
  • Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the annual rate of return that would be required for a sum to grow from its beginning balance to its end balance, assuming reinvestment at the end of each year.
  • Profit after tax if considered on a cash basis is a non-IFRS measure comprising profit after tax removing all non-cash items, including but not limited to unrealized losses arising from fair value adjustments and non-cash compensation expense accruals.
Our business activities include:
  • Legal finance, which includes our traditional core litigation finance activities in which we are providing clients with financing against the future value of legal claims. It also encompasses our asset recovery and legal risk management activities, which often are provided to the same clients.
  • Complex strategies encompasses our activities providing capital as a principal in legal-related assets, often securities, loans and other financial assets where a significant portion of the expected return arises from the outcome of legal or regulatory activity. Most of our complex strategies activities over the past several years have been conducted through our Strategic Value Fund.
  • Post-settlement finance includes our financing of legal-related assets in situations where litigation has been resolved, such as financing of settlements and law firm receivables.
  • Asset management includes our activities administering the funds we manage for third-party investors.
Other terms we use include:
  • Cash receipts provide a measure of the cash that Burford's capital provision assets generate during a given year as well as cash from certain other fees and income. In particular, cash receipts represent the cash generated from capital provision assets, including cash proceeds from realized assets and related hedging assets, plus cash income from asset management fees, services and other income, before any deployments into funding existing or new assets.
  • Commitment is the amount of financing we agree to provide for a legal finance asset. Commitments can be definitive (requiring us to provide funding on a schedule, or more often, when certain expenses are incurred) or discretionary (only requiring us to provide funding after reviewing and approving a future matter). Unless otherwise indicated, commitments include deployed cost and undrawn commitments.
  • Deployment refers to the funding provided for an asset, which adds to Burford's invested cost in that asset. We use the term interchangeably with addition.
  • Deployed cost is the amount of funding we have provided for an asset as of the applicable point in time.
  • Liquidity refers to the amount of cash and cash management assets on our balance sheet.
  • Portfolio refers to the total amount of our capital provision and post-settlement assets, valued at deployed cost plus any fair value adjustments and any undrawn commitments.
  • Realization: A legal finance asset is realized when the asset is concluded (when litigation risk has been resolved). A realization will result in Burford receiving cash or, occasionally, some other asset or recognizing a due from settlement receivable, reflecting what Burford is owed on the asset. We use the term interchangeably with recovery.
  • Realized gain/loss refers to the total amount of gain or loss generated by a legal finance asset when it is realized, calculated simply as realized proceeds less deployed funds, without regard for any previously recognized fair value adjustment.
  • YPF-related assets refers to our Petersen and Eton Park legal finance assets, which are two claims relating to Argentina's nationalization of YPF, the Argentine energy company.
For additional information, including reconciliations of our non-IFRS financial measures to the corresponding IFRS figures, see our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2021. About Burford Capital
Burford Capital is the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses include litigation finance and risk managementasset recovery and a wide range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR), and it works with companies and law firms around the world from its principal offices in New YorkLondonChicagoWashingtonSingapore and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.burfordcapital.com. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any ordinary shares or other securities of Burford. This release does not constitute an offer of any Burford fund. Burford Capital Investment Management LLC ("BCIM"), which acts as the fund manager of all Burford funds, is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The information provided herein is for informational purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The information contained herein is not, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities (including, without limitation, interests or shares in the funds). Any such offer or solicitation may be made only by means of a final confidential Private Placement Memorandum and other offering documents. Forward-looking statements
This announcement contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934 regarding assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs about future events. These statements are intended as "forward-looking statements". In some cases, predictive, future-tense or forward-looking words such as "aim", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "could", "estimate", "expect", "forecast", "guidance", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "predict", "projected", "should" or "will" or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. In addition, we and our representatives may from time to time make other oral or written statements which are forward-looking statements, including in our periodic reports that we file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, other information sent to our security holders, and other written materials. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on  numerous assumptions and that our actual results of operations, including our financial condition and liquidity and the development of the industry in which we operate, may differ materially from (and be more negative than) those made in, or suggested by, the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. Significant factors that may cause actual results to differ from those we expect include those discussed under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2021. In addition, even if our results of operations, including our financial condition and liquidity and the development of the industry in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future events, a change in our views or expectations or otherwise. SOURCE: Burford Capital

Trends in Offshore Markets—What’s Next After COVID?

What can we expect in the coming months in offshore markets? John O’Driscoll, leader of the Insolvency and Dispute Resolution team at Walkers, had much to say on the subject. Litigators, financial professionals, and insolvency practitioners should pay close attention to legal developments in offshore markets. Lexology details commentary from O’Driscoll, beginning with the impact of the Private Funding of Legal Services Act (which became law in May of this year) on litigation funding in the Cayman Islands. O’Driscoll explains that funding agreements often could not secure court approval, and were rarely used in commercial cases. The passing of the PFLSA is likely to foretell an increase in claims, as well as new entrants into the litigation funding space. In the Caymans and BVI, creditors are exploring new and innovative options when enforcing debt collection. Thanks to new legal provisions, court approval is no longer needed for a secured creditor to enforce its security. The BVI also recently affirmed that the court may grant injunctive relief in foreign proceedings. This positive development fixes an earlier law that did not specifically allow the court to grant such remedies. Ultimately, these laws are positive for creditors. They ensure that debtors will be unable to use asset protection provisions to evade their debts.

UK Takes Welcome Steps Toward Legal Funding and Class Actions

The UK case Merricks v Mastercard will move to trial thanks to a new litigation funder for claimants. The case could impact more than 46 million consumers in the UK, who are seeking damages of more than GBP 15 billion. Lexology details that the funding agreement was scrutinized to protect the financial interests of class members. The Tribunal expressed its satisfaction that there is no conflict of interest between class members and funders. The new funder is deploying significantly more funding than the previous one. Merricks now has an agreement for GBP 45.1 million, plus 15 million for adverse costs.  This development clears a path for the future of UK class actions, as well as legitimizing third-party legal funding. The potential for funding to be used in collective actions and large-scale litigation is sure to lead to increased access to justice in the UK.

ANZ Bank and Ross Asset Management Reach Settlement Agreement

Investors in Ross Asset Management have recently reached a settlement with ANZ, a joint statement revealed. The case alleged that the bank knew, or should have known, that David Ross was essentially engaged in a Ponzi scheme. RZN reports that all involved parties affirmed that they were misled by Ross, but declined to comment on the matter further. One spokesperson did mention that investors looked pleased while exiting the meeting. The RAM group received funding from a specialist third-party litigation funder, who will likely receive a share of the settlement.

Binance Traders Acquire Funding for Class Action

One group of Binance traders has asserted that they lost $20 million in cryptocurrency trades earlier this year. Bitcoin prices dropped by as much as 30% last May—following the announcement of a Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrency. Today UK News details that a steering group has recently been launched, poised to bring an action against Binance for losses suffered during a platform outage. The group is backed by Liti Capital, a third-party litigation funder based in Switzerland. According to a statement by Liti, at least 700—but perhaps thousands—of traders were negatively impacted. Together, losses may total more than $100 million. NBC’s Olivia Solon points out that crypto traders are now trying to hold a company to account—despite the fact that the largely unregulated company maintains no headquarters to approach. The case will prove difficult, but Liti Capital is funding the international arbitration to the tune of $5 million. A spokesperson for Binance stated that it is the company’s policy to compensate trader losses caused by platform issues. However, unrealized profits fall under the heading of ‘what ifs’.   The FCA warned consumers that Binance is not legally able to carry out regulated activities. Banks, including Barclays, no longer allow customers to make transactions with Binance.

Burford Capital Caseload Delayed by COVID

Leading litigation funder Burford Capital has revealed that nearly 50% of its current cases have experienced delays relating to COVID. Law Gazette details that a recent performance disclosure filed with the London Stock Exchange showed that delays are slowing the progression of cases. Christopher Bogart, Chief Executive at Burford, explains that no clients have ended their relationship with Burford over delays. He also stated that some clients are reticent to settle cases while delays are still happening. Deployments are way up—with AU $399 million deployed group-wide. Despite this, Burford is looking at a net loss of as much as AU $70 million, owing to non-cash accruals. Burford shares are currently at 847p.

Legal-Bay Lawsuit Funding Announces Roundup Litigation Settlements Still Have No Definitive Timeframe

Legal-Bay, The Presettlement Funding Company, reports that Bayer is reassessing its efforts to settle the numerous lawsuits they are facing due to their Roundup brand weed killer. It is estimated that 30,000 plaintiffs still have outstanding suits against Monsanto (a subsidiary of Bayer), claiming the company's product is directly responsible for making them sick.  Certain cancers are alleged to have been caused by the glyphosate-based herbicide including non Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer has agreed to pay compensation on some claims, even while disputing liability on others. However, it has already been ruled that it will take $9 billion to settle over 100,000 existing claims—four claims alone had jury verdicts of $2 billion as well but are in appeals. At this time, Legal-Bay's sources report that they are unaware of any victims who have been paid any actual funds from Monsanto, despite the settlement being reached over a year ago. There are no guarantees that the company will settle these suits, and no exact numbers can be provided for payout amounts at this time. Chris Janish, CEO of Legal-Bay, commented, "We continue to assist and fund victims of Roundup despite no timeline as to when settlements will be ruled upon or when payouts will actually occur.  It is clear that Covid has slowed the payment process, but at this point the defendant seems to be dragging their feet unnecessarily." If you are involved in a Roundup weed killer lawsuit and need an immediate cash advance against your pending settlement, you can apply HERE or call: 877.571.0405 Legal-Bay's pre settlement funding programs are designed to provide immediate cash in advance of a plaintiff's anticipated monetary award. The non-recourse law suit loans—sometimes referred to as loans for lawsuit or loans on settlement—are risk-free, as the money doesn't need to be repaid should the recipient lose their case. Therefore, the lawsuit loan isn't really a loan, but rather a cash advance. To apply right now, please visit the company's website HERE or call toll-free at: 877.571.0405 where agents are standing by.

Liti Capital’s Wrapped LITI (wLITI) Lists on Bitcoin.com Exchange

Liti Capital’s wLITI token, a wrapped version of the Swiss company’s LITI equity token, has been listed on the Bitcoin.com Exchange on 24 August at 10:00AM UTC. wLITI is trading with BTC and USDT pairs. Liti Capital, a Swiss-based blockchain private equity fund specializing in raising capital for legal cases, is making waves in traditional investing by bringing litigation financing to the masses, an investment practice traditionally monopolized by hedge fund heavyweights and elite investors. Just last week, 19 August 2021, Liti Capital announced that it was funding a claim (www.binanceclaim.com) against Binance, which would enable affected individuals to pursue claims, including, if necessary, in arbitration, for compensation in relation to the exchange failing on 19 May 2021. This failure resulted in the trading accounts (including Futures, Margin, and Leveraged Token products) of at least 700 and potentially thousands of individuals being effectively untradeable for hours, causing traders to suffer losses that could exceed one hundred million dollars. Litigation financing is the practice of bringing in investors to cover the cost of a lawsuit or arbitration in exchange for a portion of the profit. Litigation financing specialists, such as Liti Capital, purchase litigation assets for cases they deem to have a high chance of winning. While litigation financing often requires an initial investment of $500,000 to $1 million from an investor, Liti Capital makes it accessible for anyone with as little as $50. It does this by tokenizing shares in Liti Capital and paying out dividends to Liti Capital (LITI) equity token holders when a case in Liti Capital’s portfolio is won. Liti Capital has already secured a healthy case portfolio with its largest case potentially worth more than $1 billion when it finally settles. Cases like these, which tend to be commercial rather than consumer or personal lawsuits, usually target large-scale corporate disputes valued at more than $10 million. While they could take years before a settlement is reached, successful litigation funders can expect to pocket between three and five times their initial investments, according to estimates by litigation finance expert Steven Friel. What is wLITI? wLITI is an ERC-20 token that is the wrapped version of the LITI equity token. Launched on June 29, 2021, the wLITI token is suitable for trading on exchanges such as Bitcoin.com, whereas the LITI token is only available through liticapital.com after meeting KYC requirements. Liti Capital uses the blockchain to manage its share registry. Development of its own blockchain-based case management tools is on its roadmap. Switzerland-based Liti Capital creates wLITI at a LITI token buyer’s request via Liti Capital’s app or website, which converts the LITI to wLITI at a 1:5000 ratio. The tokens will always maintain this ratio. The buyer is then able to trade their wLITI freely. Liti Capital does not directly sell wLITI. LITI is a true digital share of Liti Capital that has voting rights, pays dividends and is protected under Swiss law. LITI is purposely not designed to be on exchanges at this time. Both tokens represent Liti Capital, whose mantra is “private equity for all.” Liti Capital works exclusively in a single form of private equity – Litigation Finance, also called third party funding. This asset class has remained almost entirely exclusive to hedge funds and venture capitalists since its inception several decades ago. Litigation Finance is the practice of financing all or part of a legal case on behalf of a plaintiff for an agreed upon percentage of the court award. Once Liti Capital purchases a portion of ownership of a case, it provides capital that can be used in many ways: legal fees, case management and strategy, expert witnesses, intelligence work and whatever else is needed to give the plaintiff the best chance of winning the case and collecting the award. The portion owned by Liti Capital becomes a “litigation asset” that backs the LITI token. A Strong Endorsement Danish Chaudhry, CEO of Bitcoin.com Exchange, shared his views on wLiti’s listing, saying,“The Liti Capital team are providing an equity token which is the first of its kind, focused around easy-to-access private equity investment opportunities for basically anyone with the help of blockchain technology.” Chaudhry continues on by saying: “We’re very excited to see how Liti Capital will continue to empower their vision, and gain further outreach with our outstanding community at the exchange.” Jonas Rey, CEO of Liti Capital, said, “Listing on Bitcoin.com Exchange is an excellent opportunity for us, and a milestone we are proud of. We have full confidence that once the public discovers just how valuable the litigation assets we are able to purchase on behalf of LITI investors are and how powerful blockchain-backed private equity trading can be, that wLITI will become a very popular token indeed.” Listing details Trading Opening: Aug. 24, 2021, 10:00AM UTC Deposit Opening: Aug 24, 2021, 09:00AM UTC Trading Pairs: wLITI/BTC wLITI/USDT About Bitcoin.com Exchange The mission of Bitcoin.com Exchange is to empower people from all over the world to trade cryptocurrencies with ease and confidence, from first-time traders to advanced trading professionals. With high liquidity, 24/7 multilingual support and dozens of trading pairs, complemented with a high level of security, we offer an attractive platform for trading any cryptocurrency. Within one year since launch, on average, the exchange has been visited by more than 500K active traders per month, and this number continues to grow by the minute. About Liti Capital Switzerland-based Liti Capital is a Swiss limited liability company specializing in litigation finance and fintech. Liti Capital buys litigation assets to fund lawsuits and provides a complete strategic solution along with connections to top law firms to help clients win their cases. Tokenized shares of the company lower the barrier of entry for retail investors and give token holders a vote in the company’s decision-making process. Dividends are distributed to LITI token holders upon the success of the plaintiff. Jonas Rey, co-founder of Liti Capital, also heads Athena Intelligence, one of the most successful intelligence agencies in Switzerland. His two co-founders, Andy Christen and Jaime Delgado, bring operational, innovation and technical skills to round out the leadership team. Liti Capital recently onboarded seasoned industry leader David Kay as chief information officer and executive chairman. Boasting more than a decade of experience as funding partner and portfolio manager of a billion-dollar private equity fund in the litigation financing space, Kay successfully enforced what was at the time the largest international arbitration award in history, bringing in over $1 billion in cash and securities.