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Digital Assets

Digital assets and the associated emerging technologies are creating immense opportunity: new products; the potential for assets (e.g. real estate, cash, commodities) to be owned, audited and accessed in a different way; new and cheaper ways to raise capital, insure assets, and invest. We are in an age of rapid technological change in which we have witnessed:

  • the emergence of the blockchain, as a basis for self-validating digital record-keeping, transaction management and performance;
  • huge advances in artificial intelligence (AI) with the emergence of large language model, bots, agents and retail services based entirely on AI; and
  • the penetration of new forms of payment system and ascription of value to assets based entirely on digital premises.

This offers opportunity for fractional ownership of assets, 24/7 accessibility and liquidity, and transparency & security, all at lower cost.

The industry supporting and driving this change is itself rapidly growing, with new-era businesses emerging alongside integration into and convergence with traditional businesses. New laws, policies and regulation are being implemented across the globe to address the activities of this industry and its clientele, in an effort to keep pace. These businesses need traditional legal advice, but they also need specialist legal advice at the very cutting edge of law and legal understanding on the digital assets, services and media that they are creating or adapting to.

What do we do?

The Edwin Coe Digital Assets Group is a team of lawyers drawn from various disciplines across the Firm, offering services to support the development of the digital assets market. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a growth company, an investor or investment fund, a technology business or token issuer, or a business engaging with or simply exploring the opportunities presented by digital assets, our sector specialists can assist.

We are involved in a range of regulatory intelligence projects looking at the developing picture for digital assets regulation, and clients seek our advice on a range of aspects affecting the world of digital assets, AI, and emerging technologies.

Some recent examples of our work include:

  • Advising several offshore exchanges on bases for continued access to UK consumers of opportunities to transact in digital currencies (in spite of the limitations under the UK Financial Promotion regime since late 2023).
  • Structuring a bond for an offshore listing denominated in Bitcoin;
  • Working with a real estate developer to assist in a construction project financed through token issuance;
  • Assisting a real estate agency business with transactions in the metaverse;
  • Advising an NFT marketplace minting a native digital currency, used to purchase on the marketplace and remunerate its staff, traded on a cryptocurrency exchange.
  • Advising a provider of liquidity and staking services to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) investing in various cryptocurrencies;
  • Advising a spun-out fund management team on transfer of the advisory relationship from Germany to the UK for a €30m PE fund investing in digital assets;
  • Acting for an NFT marketplace in a dispute with its software engineer;
  • Advising founders and senior executives of maximum extractable value (MEV) collectives and blockchain frameworks on the offshore transfer of their cryptoassets.
  • Advising on the creation and ongoing management of a fund investing in cryptoasset funds.
  • Creation, issue, listing, custody, transference and staking, of tokens and coins
  • Design and promotion of NFTs
  • Formation and promotion of funds invested or investing in digital assets;
  • Constitution and operation of DAOs
  • Regulatory and tax considerations from the use and deployment of digital assets
  • Deployment of AI
  • Operational resilience for financial institutions and IT/Comms firms  (DORA/OpRes)
  • Data Management
  • Licensing
  • Dispute Resolution involving digital assets, cryptocurrencies and blockchain

Contact our Digital Assets and Emerging Technologies team
telephone: 020 7691 4000 or email: enquiries@edwincoe.com

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Digital Assets and Emerging Technologies

Digital Assets

Some recent examples of our work include:

  • Advising several offshore exchanges on bases for continued access to UK consumers of opportunities to transact in digital currencies (in spite of the limitations under the UK Financial Promotion regime since late 2023).
  • Structuring a bond for an offshore listing denominated in Bitcoin;
  • Working with a real estate developer to assist in a construction project financed through token issuance;
  • Assisting a real estate agency business with transactions in the metaverse;
  • Advising an NFT marketplace minting a native digital currency, used to purchase on the marketplace and remunerate its staff, traded on a cryptocurrency exchange.
  • Advising a provider of liquidity and staking services to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) investing in various cryptocurrencies;
  • Advising a spun-out fund management team on transfer of the advisory relationship from Germany to the UK for a €30m PE fund investing in digital assets;
  • Acting for an NFT marketplace in a dispute with its software engineer;
  • Advising founders and senior executives of maximum extractable value (MEV) collectives and blockchain frameworks on the offshore transfer of their cryptoassets.
  • Advising on the creation and ongoing management of a fund investing in cryptoasset funds.

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