Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Fintech

Being a part of the world of startups, we witness many innovative ideas that bring changes into our everyday life. Blockchain and cryptocurrency have shown a big potential to fully transform how the conservative financial system works. As the regulation of the financial sector is burdensome, some countries have introduced sandboxes – a special legal regime for new ideas that allows them to be tested in the market without having to comply with the general legislation and applying for licenses just to get started.

In most cases, there are no easily recognizable regulations governing new technologies or innovative business models. Pre-existing regulations often hinder innovative business ideas to come to fruition or may create disproportionate and non-flexible obligations that may be completely irrelevant to a new innovative business model. This makes it necessary to either zigzag around the regulation or lobby for a change in the existing legislation.

However, the main task is to understand if there is legislation in place and, if so, how the legislation applies to the particular business model what to expect and perhaps if the current legislation favors some business models more than others.

NJORD’s specialists understand how the technology works and follow closely what is happening in this domain in different sectors, but primarily in the financial sector. Our specialists have experience in identifying and managing the legal risks that may arise from innovative technologies or business models. NJORD has experience in advising initial coin offering (ICOs), applying for licenses for cryptocurrency exchanges, advising cryptocurrency gambling, and P2P lending on regulatory and compliance issues, etc.

Our expertise includes among other:

• Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules
• Cryptocurrency – e-wallets, exchanges, and transactions
• Blockchain technology applications
• Initial coin offerings (ICOs)
• Cryptocurrency gambling
• Financial services regulation
• Payment service and e-money institutions
• Peer-to-Peer (P2P) debt and equity financing
• Crowdfunding and -investing
• Corporate contributions to share capital in cryptocurrency
• Tax and VAT advise in the cryptocurrency or token sale domain
• Capital markets regulation
• Data protection
• Intellectual property

Please note that NJORD has been the victim of identity theft in a chat forum regarding legal matters within cryptocurrency. If you are unsure whether your consultation with NJORD is legitimate, please do not hesitate to contact us.