Anderson Kill’s Digital Assets & Blockchain Technology practice group represents investors in digital assets, cryptocurrency firms, blockchain-based technology ventures, and fintech firms, as they engage in innovative commercial projects and create tech-driven businesses. Anderson Kill attorneys provide cross-disciplinary advice relating to complex litigation and dispute-resolution, regulatory guidance, insurance coverage, and white-collar criminal defense.

Our team consists of industry-leading attorneys with decades of experience providing strategic advice and guidance geared toward helping clients achieve their commercial objectives as efficiently as possible. Blockchain-based technologies provide substantial opportunities for innovation, and Anderson Kill provides the advice necessary to protect our clients’ interests, enforce their rights, and provide peace-of-mind in an emergent industry.

We help our clients navigate all manner of challenges and disputes, including:

Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution

• Represent digital-asset investors in complex litigation and other disputes with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.
• Represent funds and accelerators invested in crypto ventures in commercial and investment-related disputes.
• Represent crypto mining businesses in commercial litigation regarding hash rate allocation and datacenter contracts, among others.
• Enforce investors’ rights to participate in token offerings under simple agreements for future tokens (SAFTs).
• Enforce investors’ equity rights under simple agreements for future equity (SAFEs).

Protecting Creditors’ Rights in Insolvency Proceedings

• Enforce creditors’ rights in domestic and offshore insolvency proceedings of some of the largest crypto-related insolvencies of the past decade.
• Represent crypto firms serving on creditors’ committees in acting on behalf of unsecured creditors and coordinating with trustees and joint liquidators to identify assets and maximize the value of the estate.

Strategic Guidance & Advice

• Provide business-focused advice and counsel to large digital-asset financial services firms.
• Provide regulatory advice to financial institutions in a variety of contexts, including before the SEC and CFTC.
• Represent innovative software companies applying distributed-ledger technology to create novel solutions and applications outside of the digital-currency context.
• Aid our blockchain and digital-asset clients in identifying potential insurance coverage for claims and disputes that are specific to digital commerce.

Selected Representations:

Anderson Kill attorneys have led the way in some of the most visible matters in the digital assets and crypto industry. They routinely secure favorable resolutions for firm claims, including by enforcing clients’ rights as investors and providing the guidance necessary to navigate the ever-changing regulatory landscape the industry faces. Among other notable matters, Anderson Kill attorneys have:

• Represented an offshore venture capital fund investing in crypto and AI-based technology companies in a dispute with a crypto-industry giant. The early-stage investment entitled the client to millions of tokens valued at more than $600 million under a simple agreement for future tokens (“SAFT”).
• Represented early-stage investors in one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, in a $90 million+ dispute regarding equity rights under simple agreement for future equity (“SAFE”).
• Represented crypto-based financial institution as a creditor in the U.S.-based bankruptcy proceedings of a major crypto-focused bank. The firm’s client was the largest unsecured creditor, with claims exceeding $80 million.
• Represented a U.S.-based crypto exchange as a creditor on the creditors’ committee in the offshore insolvency proceedings of the largest-ever crypto-based hedge fund, with $18 billion AUM prior to collapse.
• Represented technology accelerator company that invests in a variety of early-stage crypto and blockchain companies in a dispute with a crypto/AI tech company. The dispute involves the client’s entitlement to millions of dollars under a post-money SAFE and raises novel questions regarding whether the distribution of utility tokens to shareholders constitutes a “distribution” under standard SAFE agreements.
• Represented a blockchain-based technology company that develops supply-chain software for large corporations in a multimillion-dollar contract dispute with a large multinational corporation. The dispute involves an on-blockchain software suite that client built out and customized to permit supply-chain transparency and tracking of raw-material sourcing information.
• Represented a large digital-asset investment manager in a dispute with a consumer bank involving the effects of the FDIC’s “Chokepoint 2.0” regulatory blitz aimed at banks engaging in crypto-related activities.
• Represented a crypto hedge fund that provided initial access to an innovative token, which is now one of the most highly traded Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies. The dispute involved client’s rights to hundreds of millions in dollars of management and success fees generated by the hedge fund’s large returns.
• Represented a digital-asset company that launched an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency in connection with an SEC investigation regarding whether the issuance of functional tokens constituted an initial coin offering (“ICO”) that was subject to SEC securities-registration regulations.
• Provided regulatory and investment advice to a large ecommerce company in connection with the ICO of its cryptocurrency in 2017. The representation involved substantial novel issues, as the cryptocurrency was one of the first tokens offered by a publicly traded company and the regulatory landscape was undefined.
• Represented a large alternative asset-management firm in a dispute with a now-bankrupt bank in connection with a defaulted debt secured by Bitcoin. After the bank became insolvent, the client assumed control of the Bitcoin and heavy litigation resulted with other stakeholders, including other large industry players.

As the world of cryptocurrency and digital assets continues to evolve and new technologies are introduced, Anderson Kill provides its clients with the counsel and business insight they need to protect their rights and position themselves for strategic success.