Blockchain and Digital Assets

The Blockchain & Digital Assets Practice Group at Mackrell International brings together leading lawyers from around the world to provide counsel in digital assets and distributed ledger technology, uniting attorneys with deep regulatory experience and practical industry insight.

In recent years, blockchain technology has captured the attention of entrepreneurs, engineers, investors and financial institutions, offering transformative possibilities across sectors such as securities and commodities trading, supply chain management, intellectual property, identity verification, real estate and public services. Recognising its potential to redefine global commerce, our group is dedicated to helping clients innovate responsibly within this rapidly evolving space.

Our attorneys come from jurisdictions including Singapore, the Philippines, Serbia, Italy, Hong Kong, Colombia, Ghana, the United States and the United Kingdom. Together, we help clients navigate the complex and often fragmented regulatory landscape surrounding crypto-assets and digital finance. We collaborate across borders to deliver seamless, coordinated advice on blockchain, Web3, fintech and digital-asset markets, ensuring that clients – from startups to global financial institutions – receive both local precision and a truly international perspective.

Our mission

• Empower innovation through compliance: help clients build scalable blockchain businesses that align with complex, fast-changing legal regimes.

• Deliver cross-border coordination: enable Mackrell member firms to serve digital-asset clients globally, offering one connected network of legal experts.

• Enhance collaboration and insight: host regular virtual and in-person meetings to share enforcement updates, regulatory trends and business-development opportunities.

• Facilitate client referrals: strengthen relationships between firms so that smaller and mid-sized practices can deliver seamless multi-jurisdictional representation.

• Shape the future of global fintech: provide thought leadership, joint publications and educational programming on emerging issues in digital assets and distributed finance.

Comprehensive legal support for blockchain companies

Our member firms provide full-spectrum guidance for organisations operating at the intersection of law, finance and technology. We offer practical solutions from concept to compliance:

• Digital currency and payments compliance: advising on securities, commodities and money-services laws applicable to digital currencies, stablecoins and blockchain-based payment systems.

• Token structuring and offerings: analysing and classifying tokens (utility vs. security), advising on ICOs, SAFEs and tokenised equity offerings, and addressing global securities and AML implications.

• Smart contracts and DAO governance: reviewing contract enforceability, providing guidance on decentralised governance systems and aligning DeFi and DAO operations with applicable regulation.

• AML/KYC and BSA compliance: developing, reviewing and strengthening AML, KYC and Bank Secrecy Act compliance programmes tailored to blockchain and fintech platforms.

• Multi-jurisdictional regulatory strategy: coordinating compliance across diverse national frameworks and licensing regimes.

Navigating the global legal framework for digital assets

The regulatory landscape for blockchain and digital assets is rapidly evolving — and increasingly international. Our practice group tracks developments from key agencies and legislative bodies and ensures member firms and their clients remain informed, agile and compliant. From U.S. securities and commodities laws to emerging frameworks in Europe and Asia-Pacific, our network helps clients interpret and comply with the patchwork of global rules that govern innovation in digital finance.

We focus on delivering legal clarity and operational confidence, empowering responsible growth while minimising regulatory risk.

Industry-specific and hands-on experience

Members of the Blockchain & Digital Assets Practice Group advise and defend clients in high-stakes regulatory enforcement actions and policy-shaping projects across industries including:

• Tokenised real estate and asset-backed securities

• Decentralised exchanges and liquidity protocols

• Blockchain-enabled gaming and NFTs

• Digital finance platforms, robo-advisers and tokenised funds

• DeFi and smart-contract-based financial products

Our collective experience — spanning enforcement defence, advisory and regulatory design — positions Mackrell International as a trusted global resource for blockchain, digital-assets and fintech law.

Collaboration, connectivity & global focus

The Blockchain & Digital Assets Practice Group functions as a connected global network, enabling seamless cross-border legal service delivery through:

• Monthly global virtual meetings to exchange insights on key developments and enforcement trends.

• Regional and global in-person summits to deepen relationships, build referrals and plan coordinated strategies for multinational clients.

• A shared resource platform offering up-to-date enforcement alerts, comparative jurisdictional guides and joint client-facing materials.

• Cross-practice coordination with other Mackrell International groups ensuring that matters touching on securities enforcement, investigations or fintech regulation are handled holistically.

By this collaboration, Mackrell International firms are empowered to provide clients with big-firm reach and small-firm responsiveness, offering an agile, expert and globally integrated service model.

Join the Blockchain & Digital Assets Practice Group

Firms advising fintech, crypto, DeFi or Web3 clients are invited to join our collaborative network. Together we share insights, expand reach and deliver seamless multi-jurisdictional solutions for clients navigating the next frontier of finance and technology.

To join, or if any member requires an up-to-date list of this PG Participants please contact MI HQ - mackrell.hq@mackrell.net

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Practice Group leader K. Braeden Anderson was recently named the #1 most-read thought leader in the United States for fintech in Mondaq’s Spring 2025 Thought Leadership Awards, recognizing Braeden as the top U.S. firm for fintech regulatory writing.”

Watch on YouTube: Digital Asset Securities: A Legal Field Guide for Builders

Plus: What's the big deal with Bitcoin, anyway? Andrew Updegrove of Gesmer Updegove talks to Justin Swanson of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP

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If any member requires an up to date list of this PG Participants please contact MI HQ - mackrell.hq@mackrell.net