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The digital asset that matters is trust.

 

Seth Godin

What we do

Digital Assets Legal Advisors (DALAW) provides advisory services for the legal structuring, documentation and regulatory clearance of digital assets. We specialize in supporting our clients in ensuring compliance with laws and regulations as well as managing risks related to digital assets.

Simply put, digital assets are digital representations of value, made possible by advances in cryptography and distributed ledger technology. These digital representations, often referred to as tokens, are issued directly on a distributed ledger, can be transferred peer-to-peer without an intermediary and permit a direct interaction between issuer and investor.

We believe that the tokenization of financial and other asset classes will and is resulting in significant efficiency gains with the potential of freeing-up the flow of capital in global markets. It will make investments in financial instruments more accessible and enable new opportunities and business models.. Making use  of these opportunities requires diligence and a clear understanding of regulatory and legal foundations. DALAW supports you in bridging the gaps between the past, present and tomorrow.

Our Services

One-stop-shop for digital assets

One-stop-shop for digital assets

DALAW provides fully-integrated legal and other specialty advisory services surrounding the structuring, documentation and regulatory clearance of digital assets. Enabling clients in ensuring compliance with laws and regulations and managing risks related to digital assets best describes how we are adding value to our clients. As an active participant in the digital asset ecosystem, we are working closely together with partners providing technical and business advisory services, enabling us to better position our clients in a quickly evolving landscape.

Structuring of digital assets

Structuring of digital assets

Whether financial or nonfinancial asset, we aid clients in determining the best  legal structure for digital assets. Our collaborative digital asset solutions are tailor-made to best fit your needs. Whether plain vanilla simple principal-at-maturity bonds or significantly more complex derivatives or asset-backed securities, we can help. Structuring plays a particularly important role when digital assets are represented by tangible assets such as precious metals, diamonds, real-estate or any form of claim.  We have a full understanding of all possible structures. Where financial assets are concerned, we work on the basis of the ACTUS Financial Protocol, a standard covering the whole range of financial instruments. Read more about ACTUS and AFP here.

Documentation of digital assets

including preparation and approval of prospectuses

Documentation of digital assets

The issuance of digital assets always requires some form of documentation: a whitepaper, an offering memorandum, or even a full-fledged securities prospectus if the asset is to be offered to the public. While the preparation of a full securities prospectus is a major undertaking, it provides a firm legal basis for offering digital assets to the public. A prospectus approved by and notified to EU authorities digital assets can be offered to the public across the EU/EEA and in Switzerland. DALAW has practical experience with preparing the relevant documentation and the approval process in Switzerland and the EU.

Regulatory clearance of digital assets

Regulatory clearance of digital assets

We help our clients to navigate the regulatory jungle by obtaining non-action letters or other form of regulatory clearance. We also advice on the regulations to be observed if digital assets are to be distributed in other jurisdictions, working together with partners in all places relevant in the blockchain sphere.

Digital Asset Compliance

Digital Asset Compliance

We provide support in ensuring compliance with laws, regulations and best practices, including in relation to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) programs, sanctions regulations, regulations governing the cross-border distribution of digital assets, and data protection.

Who we are

Hans Kuhn
Hans KuhnPartner & Co-Founder
Hans Kuhn is a practicing attorney in Zurich, Switzerland specializing in banking and financial market law with a focus on banking and fintech regulation. He advises several blockchain-based digital asset projects.

Dr. Kuhn works on blockchain legislation with governments in both Switzerland and Liechtenstein and is a co-founder of Yapeal, a Swiss neo bank project, where he is chairman of the Board. He additionally sits as a member of the Board at Crowdlitoken, a DLT-based company which allows for direct and indirect investments in real estate.

Prior joining a private practice in 2014, Dr. Kuhn served as chief legal counsel for the Swiss National Bank (the central bank of Switzerland) for more than 13 years. He has extensive experience as a member of national and international expert groups on matters such as securities law and regulation, bank resolution, derivatives and netting legislation.

A 1993 graduate of the University of Zurich, Dr. Kuhn was admitted to the bar in Switzerland in 1995. In 1998 he received his doctorate summa cum laude from University of Zurich and additionally holds an LL.M.-Degree from Tulane University School of Law (New Orleans, 2001).

Martin Eisenring
Martin EisenringPartner & Co-Founder
Martin Eisenring is a practicing attorney and public notary in Zug, Switzerland. His many years of experience have largely centered around structuring companies and foundations.

Dr. Eisenring advises his clients on asset structuring, private equity and commodity trading as well as providing consulting services to various companies active in the field of blockchain technology and fintech, serving as a member of the Board of Directors of selected companies

Prior opening his law firm in 2015, Dr. Eisenring was Managing Director of the Zug branch of a large Swiss commercial law firm for almost ten years. Prior to that, he worked as a senior corporate governance consultant for an investment foundation in Geneva. In addition, he was a Member of Parliament of the City of Zug, a position he held for twelve years (2007-2019).

A 1996 graduate of the University of Fribourg, Dr. Eisenring was admitted to the bar in Switzerland in 2001. In 1999 he received his doctorate magna cum laude from University of Zurich for the examination of the question of the responsibility of pension fund investments. He completed a post-graduate course on the management for the legal profession at the University of St. Gallen (MLP-HSG, 2008).

Blog

Digital Assets are digital representations of value, made possible by advances in cryptography and distributed ledger technology. They are denominated in their own units of account and can be transferred peer to peer without an intermediary.

Dong He, IMF, Monetary Policy in the Digital Age, FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT, JUNE 2018, VOL. 55, NO. 2

Just as a few technologies that emerged from the dot-com era have transformed our lives, the crypto-assets that survive could have a significant impact on how we save, invest and pay our bills.

Christine Legarde, An Even-handed Approach to Crypto-Assets; IMFBlog, April 16, 2018

Crpyto assets have the potential to cominbe the benefits of traditional currencies and commodities. Like fiat money, they can potentially be exchanged for other currencies, be used for payments, and store vlaue. As investment products, they may offer portfolio diversification, although their ability to do so is still limited by their short track record, regulatory uncertainty, and primitive market infrastructure.

IMF, IMF, Global Financial Stability Report, April 2018, p. 21

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Contact

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