Blockchain Technology and Digital Assets
Schulte has been at the intersection of private capital and digital assets since we helped launch the first crypto hedge fund in 2013. Today, as digital assets have moved from the periphery to become a firmly established alternative asset class, we leverage the full force of Schulte’s experience in investment management, M&A, corporate finance, risk management, compliance and restructuring to help clients across the entire digital assets and blockchain technology ecosphere achieve their business objectives.
Representations
- Civil Litigation
- Advised Pantera Capital, the first US bitcoin investment firm and one of the largest institutional owners of cryptocurrencies, in its formation, and subsequently handled one of the first major securities disputes involving a cryptocurrency fund.
- Regulatory Litigation
- Represented and led a vigorous defense of a major digital asset lending platform in parallel investigations brought by numerous federal and state regulatory agencies related to the company’s offering of an interest-earning product. This led to the negotiation of a favorable settlement that resolved all charges against the company.
- Advising one of the world’s largest investors on how to respond to non-public inquiries it received from US federal regulators regarding its cryptocurrency investments.
- Regulatory & Compliance
- Advised FinTech investment firm on an examination of their business and operations by the SEC and updates to their regulatory policies as a result of the examination.
- Advised Wave Financial on entering into – and how to navigate the ever-evolving regulatory compliance issues around – the growing market of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
- Payments
- Represented Tiger Global Management - one of the largest investors in the financial technology space - in relation to its potential investment, alongside others, in Copper, a services provider to financial institutions trading in cryptocurrencies.
- Represented a new digital asset exchange in connection with analyzing and advising on New York BitLicense licensing and regulation, state money transmitter licensing and regulation, and federal money services business registration and compliance.
- Investment Management
- Advised One River Digital Asset Management, a premier institutional digital asset manager and SEC-registered investment adviser, on its merger with Coinbase. Since the merger, we have continued to advise the new entity, Coinbase Asset Management, with respect to their cryptocurrency funds.
- Advised Highland Digital Holdings in the formation of a Bitcoin mining fund. The fund will invest in distressed bitcoin mining assets, and plans to raise $100 million of outside capital to acquire and run distressed crypto hardware.
- Represented Numeus Group, a diversified digital asset investment firm, and Forteus, Numeus’s asset management division, in the acquisition of a minority stake in Forteus by Schroders.
- Advised Pantera Capital with the launch of Pantera Blockchain Fund, an innovative investment fund that pursues investments in venture capital, blockchain assets and liquid digital assets.
- Represented an investment advisory firm in connection with the purchase of a portfolio of cryptocurrency tokens from a cryptocurrency brokerage company in chapter 11.
- Advised Hivemind Capital UK in the launch of Hivemind Liquid Master Fund, LP, an open-ended fund that is focused on trading and investing in a diversified portfolio of digital assets, and engaging in decentralized financial application-based yield-generating activities.
- Advised CrossTower, one of the fastest-growing digital asset investing and trading startups, in connection with the launch of multiple fund products. Founded in 2019, with offices across the US, it has been ranked fourth in the world by CryptoCompare.
- M&A
- Advised the lead investor, Laurion Capital Management, in its investment in MerQube.
- Advised large private investment firm on their investment in the Series B funding of a digital assets infrastructure provider.
- Represented Foundry Digital in a number of major crypto-related acquisitions and bids for digital assets.
- Distressed Debt and Claims Trading
- Assessing the internal issuance, reserve and custody protocols of one of the largest issuers of stablecoins and advising on modifications to improve potential outcomes in a bankruptcy scenario.
- Advised a cryptocurrency platform that hosts one of the largest person-to-person money transfer services in negotiations with money transmitter partners.
- Analyzed custody and counterparty credit risk for numerous digital asset exchanges.
- Analyzing cryptocurrency bankruptcy custody issues and advising clients on various potential outcomes and ongoing litigations.