We kindly invite you to a lecture by Dr. Jacopo Della Torre entitled “Rethinking Criminal Justice in the Crypto-Asset Era”, which will take place as part of Tuesday Meetings on Friday, 24 April 2026, at 11.00 am in the library of the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law Ljubljana.
Crypto-assets pose a particularly complex challenge for criminal justice. On the one hand, these instruments can be employed in virtually any type of criminal offence.
On the other, their structural features challenge, in a cross-cutting manner, the traditional foundations of criminal justice systems, affecting their preventive, substantive, and procedural dimensions. Against this background, the lecture – adopting an international and comparative perspective, supported by empirical data – examines the regulatory and operational responses developed so far to address crypto-related crime. The picture that emerges is, in many respects, a troubling one.
Although a new professional sector specifically dedicated to combating crypto-crime has rapidly developed, this evolution has proved insufficient to curb the proliferation of illicit activities and raises significant concerns from the perspective of fundamental rights protection. Building on these findings, the lecture argues that incremental adaptations are no longer sufficient. Instead, a more profound rethinking of criminal justice is required. In its final part, it explores possible pathways towards a coherent “criminal justice of crypto-assets,” capable of addressing the systemic challenges posed by the digital economy while preserving core human rights guarantees.
Jacopo Della Torre, PhD, is Associate Professor of Criminal Procedure at the University of Genoa, where he also teaches Criminal Procedure in Economic Crime. He previously served as a researcher at the University of Trieste and was a Visiting Academic at the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham. He is involved in several national and international research projects, including the PRIN 2022 PNRR Cryptosafe, for which he serves as Principal Investigator. He is a member of the editorial boards of several Italian and international law journals. He is the author of more than one hundred academic publications, including three monographs, the most recent being Crypto-assets and Criminal Justice, Wolters Kluwer, Milan, 2026.
The event will be held in English.
Contact person and event moderator: dr. Mojca M. Plesničar.
Audio and video recording of the event is not allowed.
