Crypto and Digital Assets at CMS UK

Most of our team from in house with experience from across the industry, including from regulators, a central bank, leading exchanges, investment firms, crypto startups and DeFi platforms. This gives us deep industry expertise, interest in the industry and active participation in the wider eco-system.

We are perfectly placed to support you in the ideation and implementation of your project or transaction. We will find out your needs and help you ensure it will be a success, whether you are a crypto start-up obtaining a crypto AML licence, a VC firm investing in metaverse businesses or a financial institution offering digital assets to your clients.

Specialist team

Our CMS UK crypto and digital assets team consists of 10 lawyers working full time on crypto and digital assets law and regulation. Our crypto-specific lawyers are supported by lawyers who have crypto and digital assets experience and focus in our regulatory, disputes and litigation, and restructuring and insolvency teams, our wider finance and banking practice, as well as in our funds, IP and corporate teams. 

We are the only UK law firm to employ a crypto industry business specialist to work with our lawyers on project validation, business models, networking and industry engagement. 

Working closely alongside our crypto and digital assets team are individuals in our other teams specialising in crypto and digitalisation aspects of IP disputes, other areas of IP, and disputes and litigation, insolvency and restructuring, tax, regulation, banking and finance, investments and acquisitions and commercial technology, privacy and other data-related matters. 

Diverse client base

We act for over 300 cryptoasset clients, including exchanges, custodians, wallet providers, VC investors, funds, family offices, blockchain protocols, foundations, DeFi projects, NFT issuers and platforms, DAOs, web3 and metaverse companies.

We also act for service providers, political groups and government groups in relation to policy and education of cryptoassets.

Additionally, we act for hundreds of traditional financial institutions and banking providers advising on crypto assets regarding risk, risk prevention, litigation, asset tracing, investing and integration.

We do transactional, advisory, incorporation, fundraising, product launch, licence application, disputes and litigation, restructuring and insolvency, and consulting work for clients, KYC and AML, and advise on decentralisation, lending, staking, token issuance, funding, web3 and more.

We also support traditional finance and retail clients on their digital asset projects, including on integrating crypto or digital assets, accepting crypto payments, launching, buying or selling NFTs, Web3 development, vetting potential sponsorship or partnership opportunities and getting started in the metaverse.

Key partners

We have partnerships with firms providing all types of crypto asset services, including on and off ramps, chain analytics and crypto tracing providers, cyber security, digital asset specific insurance providers, smart contract auditing, blockchain development, digital asset custody, among many others.

At the forefront of policy

We advise the UK Parliament and Government on blockchain and crypto work and have been consulted by the UK Law Commission and the British Standards Institution on smart contracts and digital assets. We advise MPs in the House of Lords and House of Commons.

We are recommended by the Commonwealth Office for digital assets work.

We are members of the Blockchain APPG- the All Party Parliamentary Group for blockchain and the Crypto and Digital Assets APPG – the All Party Parliamentary Group for Crypto and Digital Assets and advise these groups on legal and related issues.

We are an institutional member of Crypto UK and are their regular legal advisor and engage with the new Crypto Lab Scotland.

We are a member of UK Finance and The Investment Association.

We have formed and continue to foster the IDAC community for those working in compliance in crypto and digital assets.

We have a close working relationship with universities, including Warwick Business School, the UCL AI Group, and the Cambridge Judge Business School Regulatory Genome project.

We also work with the Scale-Up Institute.

We are members of the Financial Markets Law Committee and the Payments Association and participate in several working groups on the development of blockchain. 

International reach

We have crypto and digital asset specialist teams across our offices in Europe including in Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg, as well as in Singapore and Hong Kong who support us on projects in all leading crypto jurisdictions.

Matters we advise on

We support clients throughout the lifecycle of their various stages of fundraising, investment, product or service, help crossing regulatory hurdles, and support on complex disputes involving regulators and business partners. 

They turn to us for advice on the creation and commercialization of cryptocurrency, security tokens, NFTs and other digital asset platforms along with the intellectual property rights that underpin these assets.

Our areas of expertise in our digital assets team include and are not limited to:

Project structure and governance

• Corporate finance and structure
• Onshore and offshore structures
• Smart contracts
• DAOs- Launch or ensure the ongoing smooth running of a DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation)

Regulation

• Keep you informed of regulatory changes, trends and updates
• Regulatory advice
• Applications

Services

• Banking & financial relationships
• Fiat onramps and offramps
• Custody
• Chain analytics and asset tracing
• Smart contract audits

Employment law

• Employment and token issuance in DAOs
• Employment in decentralised organisations
• Employee token benefits
• Contractor and freelance agreements
• Non-compete and non-solicitation clauses

Intellectual property

• Trademark and brand protection
• Copyright
• Confidentiality agreements
• Digital ownership
• Patents

Data

• Data protection
• GDPR
• Responding to data breaches and leaks
• Data governance
• Data licensing

Disputes and litigation

• Dispute resolution, assessment and case management
• Contract enforcement
• Securities litigation
• Consumer litigation
• Arbitration relating to digital assets
• Investigations into crypto assets
• Restructuring and insolvency
• Taxation of digital assets

Tokenisation of real-world assets

• Tokenisation of assets in crypto and tradfi
• Tokenising bonds, loans, funds and equity
• Tokenisation of alternative assets, minerals, precious materials and designer goods

NFTs (Non-Fungible Token projects) and digital certificates

• We have advised over 65 NFT projects
• NFT launches, marketplaces, marketing and promotions, intellectual property, custody, ownership rights, disputes
• Licensing and royalty agreements
• NFTs for platforms, DeFi, sports teams, art galleries, media firms, retail, museums, films, retail, charities, and more
• Digital certificates

Web3 and metaverse

• Get set up in the Metaverse
• Launching a Metaverse or web3 business
• Have a virtual presence
• Buy virtual land
• Launch a virtual product line
• Protect your virtual presence or brand

Crypto ecosystem

• DeFi
• Crypto lending and derivatives
• Crypto payments and donations
• Get set up to receive, custody or send crypto payments, donations or transactions
• Tokenomics

Traditional finance digital asset needs

• Digital bond issuance
• Tokenised fund formation
• Financial market infrastructure
• Stablecoins

Risk management

• Risk Assessment and Management Plans for legal, operational management and reputational risks
• Insurance and Liabilities
• Crypto analytics and tracing
• Risk prevention, assessment and mitigation

Commercial and contracts

• Token and Asset Exchange Agreements
• Licensing Agreements
• Data Protection and Privacy
• SaaS Agreements for Blockchain-based Services
• Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)

Mergers and acquisitions

• Tradfi integration
• Project structuring
• Due diligence on digital assets and digital asset platforms
• Asset purchases and sales
• Corporate mergers
• M&A related to web3 and digital assets

International

• We have advised on projects in over 40 jurisdictions
• We have deep experience in how to access markets and investors internationally
• We also work closely with our international CMS digital asset-specialist colleagues to give you the best advice from one point of contact
• Our team includes a New York qualified securities lawyer with extensive experience of working in-house at US and UK crypto and DeFi platforms

We can help you on issues including:

• Cross-border regulatory compliance
• International arbitration
• Import/export regulations for crypto hardware
• Status of crypto assets in different jurisdictions
• The practicality and pros and cons of establishing your digital assets product or business in the different jurisdictions
• Jurisdictional reviews/ strategy tailored to you

If there is anything you need help with, just email us at crypto@cms-cmno.com and we’ll arrange a conversation at a time convenient to you to see how we can help.

Advice that has been tested

We can apply the law to the market because we have worked with digital assets since the early days of their inception.

We combine our deep knowledge and experience of financial regulation, intellectual property and law with specific expertise in crypto, digital assets, NFTs, DeFi, e-money, payments, AML, FinTech, Funds, insurance, sanctions and financial crime.