Digital assets law firm

Digital asset work grew out of banking and capital markets law. A bond on a blockchain is a security under the German Electronic Securities Act (eWpG), a fund that buys crypto needs a structure under the German Investment Code (KAGB), and a bank that holds crypto for clients needs a license. Since the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) applies in full, a crypto-asset service provider needs authorization from BaFin or another national authority. Heuking partner Johannes Blassl describes the three routes in an article on MiCAR authorization (in German): full authorization, a simplified procedure for firms that already hold a license, and a notification for regulated financial firms such as banks. Anti-money laundering duties, including the Travel Rule for crypto transfers, apply on top. Tax is its own discipline, and several firms run tax teams next to their regulatory lawyers.

BaFin writes that it turns down MiCAR applications that are incomplete, inconsistent or unsuitable in form and scope (in German), because the regulation gives the authority short review deadlines and little room to ask for missing documents. A firm that has already taken a client through the procedure knows what BaFin asks for: Heuking did so for DZ BANK and Hauck Aufhäuser Digital Custody, YPOG for 21X under the EU DLT Pilot Regime.

Crypto custody licenses and special AIFs for crypto investments are part of the practice at Annerton, crypto funds and their tax structure part of the practice at YPOG, and the capital markets side of eWpG bonds went to firms such as Hengeler Mueller, Linklaters and Clifford Chance. A MiCAR license passports across the EU through a notification to BaFin, yet a launch in another country can still bring in local counsel: the online broker flatexdegiro holds a BaFin MiCAR license and started crypto trading in Austria with advice from Cerha Hempel (in German).

For bank and financial supervisory law, JUVE ranks Freshfields, Hengeler Mueller, Hogan Lovells and Linklaters in its top group (in German). For fintech, Legal 500 Germany puts Annerton alone in its first tier and Jones Day, Osborne Clarke and Hengeler Mueller in the second, while Chambers FinTech has Annerton, Bird & Bird, Latham & Watkins and Linklaters in Band 1.

Annerton is a financial regulatory firm with offices in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Luxembourg. Annerton is the only firm in the first tier of the Legal 500 Germany fintech ranking, and Chambers also places it in Band 1 for fintech in Germany. The crypto and digital assets practice at Annerton handles licenses for crypto custody and financial services, special AIFs for crypto investments, security token offerings and trading platforms. Partner Kemal Ahmedi explains the guidance notice from BaFin on crypto-asset services under MiCAR on the firm's blog PayTechLaw.

YPOG is a law and tax firm with offices in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Munich, and JUVE credits its regulatory practice with an excellent reputation for crypto work (in German). YPOG advised its client 21X for two years on the first license for a DLT trading and settlement system under the EU DLT Pilot Regime, granted by BaFin, and structured the crypto fund Cherry Decentral I from Cherry Ventures of about 30 million euros. The Fintech + DLT team at YPOG works for crypto trading venues, crypto custodians and token issuers. Learn more about the client through the profile of 21X in Frankfurt.

HEUKING has about 450 lawyers, tax advisers and notaries at eight German locations. Frankfurt partner Dr. Dr. Johannes Blassl led the teams that advised DZ BANK on the MiCAR authorization of its crypto platform meinKrypto (in German) and Hauck Aufhäuser Digital Custody on its MiCAR crypto custody license. He also led the advice to Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe on the first crypto security issued by Siemens (in German). JUVE describes the practice as known for tech topics with DLT and crypto links.

Hengeler Mueller is a German corporate law firm in the top group of JUVE for bank and financial supervisory law and in tier 2 of the fintech ranking of Legal 500. The Frankfurt capital markets team at Hengeler Mueller advised the bookrunners on the first blockchain-based digital bond of KfW (in German) and the joint lead managers, including DekaBank, together with Deutsche Bank and DZ BANK, on the first blockchain bond of NRW.BANK, a 100 million euro crypto security under the eWpG. Learn more about the legal structure and use of tokenized bonds.

lindenpartners is a partnership of lawyers in Berlin whose Crypto / DLT practice covers MiCAR compliance and the DLT Pilot Regime, with Daniel Bögeholz, Natascha Schum and Dr. Frank Zingel named for both. The firm quotes the verdict from JUVE that its banking regulatory lawyers work where banking meets new technology such as tokens and crypto custody. Chambers ranks it in Band 2 for fintech in Germany.

Switzerland is outside the EU, so a Swiss firm works with FINMA and Swiss law instead of MiCAR. Liechtenstein belongs to the EEA and applies MiCAR next to its own Token and TT Service Provider Act (TVTG). In Austria the FMA supervises crypto-asset service providers under MiCAR. In the Chambers ranking for blockchain and cryptocurrencies in Switzerland, MLL Legal and MME hold Band 1, with CMS, Homburger, Kellerhals Carrard, Lenz & Staehelin, Pestalozzi and Schellenberg Wittmer in Band 2. Explore the Swiss legal and business context in the Crypto Valley.

MME is a Swiss firm for legal, tax and compliance advice with offices in Zurich and Zug, ranked in Band 1 by Chambers for blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The blockchain, DLT and digital assets practice at MME covers token classification and offerings, custody structures for digital assets, licenses for DLT trading venues and the tax treatment of tokens. MME lawyers Andreas Glarner, Dominik Hofmann and Ronald Kogens explain why custodial staking in Switzerland needs no banking license.

Lenz & Staehelin is a Swiss firm that Chambers raised to Band 1 for FinTech Legal in Switzerland, with a Band 2 ranking for blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The firm was a founding member of the Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) in Geneva, which writes standards for issuing and trading securities on a blockchain; its lawyers took the chair and the general secretary role. The financial services and fintech practice covers licensing and regulation for this work.

Bär & Karrer calls itself a leading Swiss law firm, with six offices in Switzerland. Bär & Karrer advised Deutsche Börse on buying a majority stake in Crypto Finance AG, a financial group under consolidated FINMA supervision that offers trading, custody and investment in digital assets. Learn more about the buyer and its activities through Deutsche Börse in crypto and digital assets.

Cerha Hempel is an Austrian firm with offices in Austria and six countries of Central and Eastern Europe, ranked with four stars by JUVE for bank and finance law in Austria (in German). Dr. Oliver Völkel, whom JUVE calls one of Austria's best-known crypto lawyers, joined its Vienna office as equity partner with his team from Stadler Völkel (in German). The FinTech & Crypto-Assets Law practice handles MiCAR license applications for service providers and for issuers of e-money tokens and asset-referenced tokens, the two stablecoin types under MiCAR, plus crypto-asset white papers, security token offerings and the FMA regulatory sandbox. Oliver Völkel and Jara Erhard wrote an overview of MiCA in Austria.

NÄGELE Attorneys at Law is a firm in Schaan, Liechtenstein, with blockchain and DLT at the head of its practice list. Founder Thomas Nägele has worked with bitcoin and blockchain since 2011 and was part of the government working group that drafted the Token and TT Service Provider Act (TVTG), Liechtenstein's blockchain act. The blockchain practice covers token business models, cryptocurrencies and what MiCAR means for Liechtenstein providers.

The large international firms work on digital assets from their German offices in Frankfurt and Munich, often in the same teams that handle classic bond issues and bank regulation.

Linklaters is in Band 1 for fintech in Germany at Chambers and in the top group of JUVE for bank supervisory law. The Frankfurt team at Linklaters advised KfW on its first blockchain-based digital bond (in German), a crypto security under the eWpG, with Sebastian Dey, Head of Digital Assets Germany, on the team. Linklaters also advised SWIAT on moving its DLT network into Regulated Layer One (RL1), a European cooperative founded by banks from Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain.

Clifford Chance advised tectrex on one of the first real estate bonds issued as crypto securities under the eWpG, on the public Polygon blockchain, with Munich partner Gregor Evenkamp leading. The Frankfurt team at Clifford Chance advised Natixis Pfandbriefbank on the first digital registered covered bond on the SWIAT blockchain, 100 million euros bought by DekaBank. The firm's digital assets and DLT group covers the wider work, and JUVE ranks it with four stars for bank supervisory law.

Bird & Bird is in Band 1 for fintech in Germany at Chambers. Legal 500 names Michael Jünemann as head of the German fintech practice and lists 21Shares and Bitcoin Suisse (Europe) among its clients, plus the firm's role as lead contractor of the EU Blockchain Sandbox. The tokens and tokenization practice at Bird & Bird belongs to a cross-practice group for digital rights and assets.

Latham & Watkins holds Band 1 for FinTech Legal in Germany in the Chambers FinTech guide and Band 1 for blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the United States and the United Kingdom. The Digital Assets & Web3 practice at Latham & Watkins works on token launches, trading platforms, custody and crypto derivatives and deals with regulators including BaFin.

White & Case advised Börse Stuttgart Group and Börse Stuttgart Digital Holding on the merger with the crypto trading house Tradias (in German), with partners Roger Kiem and Stefan Bressler leading and a regulatory partner on the team. Legal 500 ranks the firm in tier 3 for fintech in Germany and JUVE gives it four stars for bank supervisory law. The fintech and digital assets group at White & Case covers tokenization, custody and digital securities. Learn more about the client through the profile of Boerse Stuttgart Digital.

Norton Rose Fulbright advised NRW.BANK on its first blockchain-based digital bond, a 100 million euro crypto security under the eWpG, with Frankfurt partner Christoph Enderstein leading. Hengeler Mueller advised the banks on the other side of the transaction. Chambers ranks Norton Rose Fulbright in Band 4 for fintech in Germany.

Many lawyers from this field attend Finance Loop events. Dr. Dr. Johannes Blassl of Heuking teaches in the MiCAR executive program at EBS Executive School, which EBS runs in cooperation with HEUKING. Dr. Julia Pfeil of Dentons spoke on sanctions and anti-money laundering law at When Banks Say 'No', a payments seminar in Frankfurt, and the law firm Schalast co-presented the FinTech Founder & Investor Evening with Finteda and Fincite. Bird & Bird is named among the event and network partners of Finance Loop in the review of its first year, and 21X, a client of YPOG, announced a cooperation with Finance Loop. YPOG partners Dr. Carola Rathke and Dr. Anika Patz are among the speakers of Capital & Code, the Frankfurt conference on stablecoins and tokenized finance, where Finance Loop is a media partner.

The law does not require a lawyer for a MiCAR license application. BaFin rejects applications that are incomplete or inconsistent, and the review deadlines leave little time to fix gaps, so applicants for a CASP license often hire a firm that has taken clients through the procedure before and knows what BaFin asks for, such as Heuking, YPOG or Annerton in Germany or Cerha Hempel in Austria.

No single ranking covers all of Europe; in Germany, Legal 500 puts Annerton alone in tier 1 for fintech, and Chambers has Annerton, Bird & Bird, Latham & Watkins and Linklaters in Band 1. In Switzerland, Chambers ranks MME and MLL Legal in Band 1 for blockchain and cryptocurrencies. For a named deal, the press releases linked above show who advised whom.

YPOG and MME run tax teams next to their regulatory lawyers, and the work of YPOG on crypto funds covers both. Where a firm has no tax team, crypto tax goes to a separate tax adviser, so ask before you sign an engagement letter.