European law firms for digital assets

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 below 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.

The work also splits into specialties. Crypto custody licenses and special AIFs for crypto investments are on Annerton's list, crypto funds and their tax structure on YPOG's, 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. The German firms with the clearest crypto record follow.

Annerton is a financial regulatory firm with offices in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Luxembourg. It 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. Its crypto and digital assets practice handles licenses for crypto custody and financial services, special AIFs for crypto investments, security token offerings and trading platforms. Partner Kemal Ahmedi explains BaFin's guidance notice 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 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 Cherry Ventures' crypto fund Cherry Decentral I of about 30 million euros. Its Fintech + DLT team works for crypto trading venues, crypto custodians and token issuers. More on the client: 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 JUVE's top group for bank and financial supervisory law and in tier 2 of Legal 500's fintech ranking. Its Frankfurt capital markets team advised the bookrunners on KfW's first blockchain-based digital bond (in German) and the joint lead managers DekaBank, Deutsche Bank and DZ BANK on NRW.BANK's first blockchain bond, a 100 million euro crypto security under the eWpG. More on the structure: 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 JUVE's verdict 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. For Swiss context, start with the page on 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. Its blockchain, DLT and digital assets practice 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. It 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. More on the buyer: 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. 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 below 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. Their German mandates follow.

Linklaters is in Band 1 for fintech in Germany at Chambers and in JUVE's top group for bank supervisory law. Its Frankfurt team 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. Its Frankfurt team 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. Its tokens and tokenization practice 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. Its Digital Assets & Web3 practice 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. Its fintech and digital assets group covers tokenization, custody and digital securities. More on the client: 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. 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 Finance Loop's event and network partners in the review of its first year, and YPOG's client 21X announced a strategic 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 one. 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.

Some firms can. YPOG and MME run tax teams next to their regulatory lawyers, and YPOG's work 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.