Global Fintech and Digital Assets

Fintech presents opportunities for companies in virtually every sector of the economy. With these opportunities come requirements, risks and expectations that may be unfamiliar, and for which companies may be unprepared. The pace of innovation has further amplified the challenges and can threaten the viability of these ventures.

Gibson Dunn recognizes the strategic imperative facing both new market entrants and incumbent players in fintech. In response, we have developed a market-leading offering that brings together a diverse set of capabilities—advisory, transactional, policy, and supervision and enforcement—which, when deployed together, enable our clients to accelerate growth seamlessly around the world.

Ours is a team with diverse backgrounds and deep experience. It has unparalleled depth based on experience in private practice, in-house and at senior levels of government, including at FinCEN, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Office of Foreign Asset Control, the New York Department of Financial Services and other state agencies. This range of perspectives allows us to offer comprehensive strategic insights that address the needs of our clients, while balancing the expectations of their regulators and other stakeholders.

We are well-positioned to advocate for our clients before administrative agencies, legislative bodies, and tribunals around the world, and to help our clients navigate new developments and develop sustainable regulatory strategies that enable them to grow their businesses and offer their products and services globally.

Our lawyers deliver advice seamlessly around the world. They have a current, substantive and technical understanding that sets them apart. Our multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary practice allows us to be nimble and provide unparalleled legal, regulatory, transactional, investigatory and litigation support throughout the world, including in jurisdictions critical to the fintech ecosystem, including the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Middle East, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Clients benefit from our deep understanding of regulators across critical markets. Our lawyers’ advice is informed by prior service in government, whether as senior federal and state regulators, as federal prosecutors, or in other high-ranking positions. This experience and in-depth knowledge of governmental agencies positions our clients to develop and execute on proactive regulatory strategies. Should matters turn contentious, we are poised to respond to the most complex investigation and enforcement actions brought by regulators in critical markets, whether in the United States, Europe or Asia.

We have effectively defended significant matters before the New York State Department of Financial Services, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. Department of Justice, FinCEN, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Our experience also includes matters before the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, and the European Central Bank.

Significantly, we are able to translate market insights into actionable policy goals. The future of fintech is being decided in the halls of legislatures and in related institutions, and it is critical that we support our clients. We have the insight and relationships that enable our clients to engage actively in the policy dialogue, whether in the legislative or the regulatory sphere. In addition to facilitating engagement with policymakers, we can help maximize those opportunities by translating market insights into content more readily consumed by policy-oriented audiences.

We coordinate with specialists across our premier platform. Fintech is inherently interdisciplinary, and support for fintech clients demands unparalleled depth across various domains. To meet these needs, members of the team work closely with lawyers across our firm and, in some cases, are also members of companion practices, which include Artificial Intelligence, Derivatives, Global Financial Regulatory, Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation, Public Policy, and White Collar Defense and Investigations.