Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology

Global Regulatory Compliance, Transactions, Litigation, and Enforcement

Our team is consistently recognized for its thorough understanding of the legal and regulatory landscape surrounding distributed ledger technologies and digital assets. We work with clients across the spectrum—from emerging startups to global enterprises—bringing extensive experience in regulatory compliance and enforcement, product counseling, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, securities law, offshore structures, data security and privacy, intellectual property, cybersecurity, KYC/AML, payment stablecoins and tokenized deposits, money services businesses (MSBs), money transmitter licensing (MTLs), virtual currency business licensing and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), digital payments, and litigation.

We regularly advise on the full range of matters shaping the digital asset ecosystem, including custody solutions, L1 and L2 blockchains, stablecoins, staking, Web3 and NFTs, asset-backed and tokenized real-world assets, security tokens, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), decentralized finance (DeFi), smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies.

Our global team advises clients at every stage of the digital asset life cycle—from entity formation and product design to capital markets transactions, institutional adoption, and decentralization.

We advise on financial services regulation, securities and commodities regulation (SEC, CFTC, and global counterparts), fund formation, tax, IP, privacy and data security, payments and banking law, and corporate structuring. When challenges arise, our enforcement, litigation, insolvency, and crisis response teams provide swift and strategic advocacy before regulators, courts, and other authorities.

We actively engage industry experts, trade organizations, and regulatory bodies in response to innovative fund structuring trends and industry shifts. Our multidisciplinary team has extensive experience with relevant government agencies in the digital asset space, including DOJ, the SEC, CFTC, OFAC, and FinCEN, and UK and European supervisory bodies, including the FCA, BoE, PSR, ECB, ESMA, and EBA. Members of our team include former regulators and prosecutors with firsthand knowledge of how reviews and investigations are conducted, which allows us to aid clients in achieving the best possible outcome.

Fintech and Payments 

Our firm offers market-leading counsel to fintech innovators, financial institutions, and blockchain-native businesses navigating the complex and rapidly evolving regulatory landscape surrounding payments, digital assets, and financial services. With deep experience in technical payments and blockchain infrastructure, consumer financial protection, stablecoin design, crypto trading platforms, and cross-border digital asset offerings, we help clients bring novel financial products to market while managing legal risk and regulatory scrutiny.
We are particularly active in advising cryptocurrency exchanges, DeFi protocols, P2P payment platforms, NFT marketplaces, custodians, and digital asset projects involving stablecoins and tokenized assets. Our Financial Services industry group most often encompasses:

• Providing regulatory product counseling and design in the context of both traditional financial services such as trust chartering and MTLs, and novel virtual currency laws such as the GENIUS Act, BitLicense, DFAL, and MiCA; 
• Negotiating and drafting agreements involving payment technologies, licensing issues, and custodial arrangements; 
• Interfacing with state and federal regulators;
• Preparing consumer-facing agreements and disclosures; and
• Advising on the expansion into new jurisdictions.

Asset Management and Investment Funds

We advise asset managers, funds, exchanges, and intermediaries on US and global regulations affecting derivatives, commodities, digital assets, and tokenized products. Our team closely tracks evolving legislation, enforcement trends, and industry best practices to help clients navigate this rapidly changing space.

We represent sponsors, boards, and service providers of index-based, leveraged, and actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as well as commodity- and digital-asset-linked exchange-traded products (ETPs). Our services cover every stage of the product lifecycle, including structuring, registration, operations, governance, regulatory filings, exemptive relief, and compliance.

Our multidisciplinary team advises on securities and commodities laws, tax treatment, broker-dealer and advisor regulation, derivatives and financing arrangements, exchange listing standards, and intellectual property considerations. We routinely secure innovative exemptive and no-action relief from the SEC and CFTC. Our lawyers are recognized thought leaders through industry publications, events, and authorship of The ETF Handbook (Fourth Edition) in partnership with EdgarAgents. We also host our annual ETF Think Tank events across the United States and abroad.

Derivatives and Commodities 

We counsel intermediaries and market infrastructures on structuring, offering, and clearing derivatives and tokenized products. Our team has helped register digital asset exchanges and clearinghouses with the CFTC and supports clients launching tokenization initiatives across asset classes.

We represent clients in examinations, investigations, and enforcement matters with top regulators worldwide, including the SEC, CFTC, FCA (UK), BaFin (Germany), Central Bank of Ireland, CSSF (Luxembourg), MAS (Singapore), and other key authorities. Several of our lawyers bring direct experience from prior roles at regulators or leading investment firms, enhancing the practicality of our advice.

For ETFs and ETPs with derivatives exposure—including futures, swaps, and options—we guide clients on CFTC and National Futures Association (NFA) rules, registration, and compliance for commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors (CTAs), and exemptions tailored to fund strategies. We also advise on the regulatory classification of digital assets to ensure compliance with securities or commodities regimes.

Emerging Growth and Venture Capital 

Our Emerging Growth and Venture Capital practice group supports digital asset innovators, marketplaces, payment platforms, and institutional investors through all stages of their business and investment lifecycle. We combine deep subject-matter knowledge in blockchain and digital assets with broad transactional and corporate governance experience to help clients build durable businesses and capture market opportunities.

We regularly advise on corporate structuring, equity and token financings, joint ventures, spinouts, mergers and acquisitions, and global expansion. With emerging technologies often straddling multiple jurisdictions, we help clients design governance and ownership structures that anticipate regulatory requirements in the United States and abroad.

In addition, we represent venture capital and private equity investors in evaluating and investing in blockchain- and fintech-native companies, with a focus on due diligence around regulatory, operational, and cybersecurity risks.
Whether supporting an early-stage startup in its first token or equity raise, guiding a multinational financial institution through a digital asset joint venture, or advising on cross-border M&A, our Corporate team delivers strategic, practical advice at the intersection of innovation, finance, and regulation.