Blockchain Lawyers

Specialist legal advice around DLT and digital assets.

In this section

Blockchain-powered disruption continues to challenge established business processes compelling the law to catch up.

While cryptocurrencies brought Blockchain technology into the limelight, the potential for disruption extends beyond financial institutions as countless distributed ledger technology (DLT) applications are explored across all sectors.

DLT principles of data immutability, network consensus and removal of intermediaries can unlock innovative solutions to a range of existing problems but raise certain legal issues. DLT-powered digitised tokenisation of both physical assets and contractual rights is now possible but this comes with specific legal, regulatory and commercial risks.

We have seen the Financial Conduct Authority seek to provide some clarity on the use of digital assets by publishing guidance that establishes a three-tiered digital asset characterisation model. However, applying this model to digital assets is not straightforward so clients who wish to harness their phenomenal disruptive potential must take care to ensure regulatory compliance before releasing them to market.

Meanwhile, use of certain DLT applications can lead to the storage of personal data on the ledger. The decentralised nature of a distributed ledger can raise unique compliance issues with respect to the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy laws.

Meet the team

Our expertise

Businesses working with DLT and digital assets therefore need advisers who understand its unique characteristics and can provide the right advice at the right time.

Our team specialises in dealing with these issues and we have the necessary legal and technical expertise to understand your objectives and develop solutions that enable you to plan for the road ahead.

“Acting for a high number of emerging digital industry clients, including gaming companies and app developers, Brabners’ practice is well-placed to support clients in the start-up space.”

The Legal 500, 2024

“Colin Bell… has significant experience in IT and software development agreements. Nik White [assists] clients in the tech space with commercial contract negotiations... Richard Hough and Matt Brown are also recommended for commercial contract work.”

The Legal 500 2024

“We were delighted with the work of Brabners’ team. Mark and Daniel were excellent, really easy to work with. We couldn’t have been in better hands.”

GasTag

“Reliability, approachability, service oriented, responsive, knowledgeable. These are the things that I think others would want to know and therefore would give me confidence in recommending.”

AppLearn