Digital Assets and Decentralized Finance

As more entities in the digital asset and traditional financial services (tradfi) markets explore developing, leveraging, and commercializing decentralized technology, the universe of agencies and regulators seeking to keep pace expands, both within the US and around the globe. The fragmented — and often clashing — regulatory frameworks overlaying the digital assets and decentralized technology ecosystem create heightened regulatory risks and business uncertainty, in particular for companies innovating at the leading edge of the market, where technology continues to outpace the law.

As a market leader that helped lay the foundation of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, Steptoe assists clients to create and commercialize digital assets and decentralized technology while navigating this evolving global regulatory landscape. We provide top-tier counsel to clients innovating in a market that has grown more sophisticated and more regulated.

Since launching Steptoe’s multidisciplinary Blockchain & Cryptocurrency practice in 2016, we have built a nationally recognized team with deep insight and perspective on the regulatory, business, technology, and policy trends impacting the market. Our team includes skilled and experienced commercial, transactional, and regulatory attorneys, along with former federal and state regulators who have shaped the policies and priorities of industry and government. Together, we advise clients on strategizing, structuring, building, and protecting their go-to-market programs in digital assets and decentralized technology.

Our Clients

We work with market-defining trailblazers, established players, and startups in the digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) space, as well as companies that are exploring applications of these technologies in various industries, including:

• Financial institutions implementing tokenization platforms
• Fintech and payments technology platforms
• Digital asset exchange platforms
• Digital asset issuers, including stablecoins, NFTs, tokenized securities, and derivative providers
• Layer 1/Layer 2 software development companies and foundations
• Institutional investors, family offices, and high net worth individuals
• Private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds
• US-based and foreign banks and other traditional financial services institutions

Outside Product Counsel

We help clients structure and launch digital assets and blockchain-based products and solutions tailored to align their commercial objectives with the leanest regulatory and compliance infrastructures. We advise on product structure and design across a wide range of platforms and technologies, including DeFi, Web3 services, NFTs, stablecoins, and asset tokenization programs and platforms, among other novel applications and solutions.

We also assist in developing and managing compliance and regulatory risk mitigation programs for national and global regulatory systems in flux, from regulatory best practices for digital asset companies to legal issues associated with novel uses of blockchain technology.

Path-Clearing Policy Work Shaping the Market

Our lawyers have worked in and with entities in the digital asset and blockchain space since its inception. We provide an authoritative understanding of the policies and priorities of, and synergies among, the many agencies attempting to regulate in the space, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), IRS, and New York Department of Financial Services, as well as federal and state banking regulators. Our insights allow clients to successfully navigate the uncertain regulatory and policy environment.

We’ve built strong relationships with regulators in the US and internationally, including through our work creating and administering the Blockchain Alliance and our close relationships with The Digital Chamber and Coin Center, and as foundational members of the Global Blockchain Business Council, Global Digital Finance, Global Financial Markets Association, and other trade associations.

Working with Steptoe’s commercial litigators and investigations and enforcement lawyers, we can identify and advise on current enforcement priorities that may signal regulatory changes on the horizon. Through our engagement with agencies and regulators, in both formal rulemaking and informal discussions, we’re able to shape the regulatory environments and influence the marketplace.