Hughes Hubbard’s Digital Assets & Blockchain Practice

As blockchain and digital assets dramatically reshape businesses and engage government regulators, our clients turn to us for real-time information and strategic advice to meet these challenges and opportunities. Our team’s deep, multidisciplinary experience – including a significant bench of former high-ranking government officials and regulators – is designed to effectively and efficiently navigate wide-ranging legal issues relating to regulation, compliance, enforcement, investigations and transactions in the digital space in the U.S. and abroad. Blockchain and digital assets, through relatively new, have already become a major disruptor in business and government and raise a host of complex legal issues.

Our crypto experience spans from winning a “first-of-its-kind” federal jury verdict to advising leading businesses through compliance-related issues and negotiating innovative deals that leverage the latest technologies and platforms. Hughes Hubbard lawyers recognize the potential presented by digital assets and are well-equipped to advise digital asset firms and those who do business with them on a wide variety of matters in the digital asset space, including:

Company formation and financing
Fund formation
Securities law
M&A and commercial transactions
Government investigations, enforcement and regulatory law
Litigation
Intellectual property
Data privacy and cybersecurity
KYC and AML compliance

Litigation

Won a groundbreaking jury verdict for the Vice Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald in a securities fraud class-action civil suit accusing him and two cryptocurrency mining companies of perpetuating a Ponzi scheme in which plaintiffs allegedly lost over $20 million.
Representation of an individual defendant in a securities, conspiracy and fraud case involving the Let’s Go Brandon meme coin.
Due diligence for client on litigation exposure of a potential acquisition target based on an ICO.
Advising foreign entities on whether digital tokens constitute securities under U.S. federal securities law.
Representation of multiple issuers seeking securities regulatory advice in connection with potential Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

Enforcement and Internal Investigations

Representation of Gemini Trust Company, LLC, a leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, in its response to an industrywide investigation by New York’s Attorney General.
Representation of an individual in connection with a high-profile cryptocurrency criminal investigation and related charges brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York involving billions of dollars worldwide.
Advising a leading virtual currency company in connection with an OFAC enforcement action related to potential sanctions violations.
Representation of a global telecommunications provider and wholly owned Pakistan-based bank in connection with an internal investigation involving its mobile-to-mobile payment platform, conducted full AML/CFT compliance gap assessment, and implementation of remedial measures.

Compliance

Representation of a multinational luxury goods company in evaluating various cryptocurrency exchanges and related compliance counseling in connection with the establishment of a cryptocurrency payment structure.
Advising Asia-based mobile financial services provider in connection with compliance with the implementation of multilateral sanctions.
Representation of a global esports and entertainment organization in connection with an internal investigation and potential enforcement actions and litigation related to participation in the launch of a cryptocurrency.

Intellectual Property

Representation of multiple clients regarding intellectual property aspects of cryptocurrency and blockchain innovations, including consulting agreements, patent applications and licensing agreements.

Corporate

Representation of Sotheby’s auction house in:
- a strategic investment in leading non-fungible token (“NFT”) development studio and commerce suite Mojito; and
- multiple strategic entertainment partnerships, NFT purchase-sale terms and metaverse platform agreements under which Sotheby’s developed, launched and currently operates Sotheby’s Metaverse.
Representation of Phillips auction house on all aspects of selling NFTs, including author-generated sales, secondary sales, consideration of fractional NFTs, contracts, acceptance of cryptocurrency for transactions, risk analysis, AML and securities analysis.
Representation of Grab Holdings, Inc. in connection with creation of Grab Financial Group (“GFG”), Grab’s fintech platform, and formation of a digital bank joint venture among GFG and a consortium including telecom giant Singapore Telecommunications.
Representation of a leading cryptocurrency founder in providing corporate, tax, securities and wealth-planning advice with respect to conversion of cryptocurrency fortune to fiat currency.
Representation of multiple issuers in connection with adding blockchain risk and tax disclosures to company disclosure documents.
Representation of multiple clients in connection with financial services-driven products, offerings and solution licensing, and development and distribution arrangements, including online banking, travel booking, merchant, gateway, settlement, payment and e-commerce solutions (blockchain, distributed ledger, crowd-funded), money wire and funds transfer, point of sale, card industry standards (PCI) and fraud-detection solutions and agreements.
Representation of an asset manager in connection with launching an institutional-quality digital assets fund, including company structuring, providing securities and tax advice, and preparing formation and offering documents.