No one is in any doubt that cryptocurrency is no longer the next big thing; it is now very much just the big thing.
As a result of the stratospheric rise in its popularity, law firms and other professional advisers have been quick to position themselves as cryptocurrency experts, promoting teams who – seemingly overnight – have acquired all of the requisite experience.
Predictably the charge is being led by the big boys. Many very familiar ‘City’ names now top the search engine rankings thanks to the considerable resource they can patch into their marketing efforts.
The only thing is on closer examination the CVs they’re promoting are arguably a little generic. We know there’s always (a perceived) security in size and “nobody gets fired for buying IBM” etc. but our argument is when it comes to such a volatile and fast moving sector, specialist knowledge and experience has to trump where a law firm sits in the current industry rankings.
Richard Howlett, one of Selachii founding partners, has been advising clients on legal matters involving bitcoin and a range of other cryptocurrencies since 2013.
Since then Richard has built up a global practice many much larger firms can only covet. Over the last 6 years his clients have enabled us to build up a breadth and depth of experience no other law firm in Europe can match. That experience includes helping clients with High Security Cryptocurrency Cold Storage, OTC Escrow, KYC & Due Diligence Advice, Bitcoin Exchange advice, Smart Contracts and Blockchain, Company formation and compliance and the launch of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as well as the more general banking and corporate/commercial legal advice and expert witness opinion our clients need.
However, it is on the contentious side where we have really cemented our position as the number one law firm in Europe for bitcoin, ICO and cryptocurrency litigation.
Since our ground-breaking work in the Class Action against Mt Gox we have worked tirelessly to successfully settle disputes involving cryptocurrency in our clients’ favour. While all of these disputes are vastly different the cases we have resolved have included scam exchanges and trading, fraudulent ICOs, wallet theft and ransomware attacks. The majority of cases have involved an international dynamic which has provided us with the very specific know-how required to run a multi-jurisdictional case.
The high profile nature of the cryptocurrency matters we’ve worked on has led to Richard establishing himself as a regular fixture in the media. The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph and The FT have all asked for Richard’s opinion and that in turn has led to appearances on BBC TV and radio.
And Selachii is involved in much more than just the legal aspects of cryptocurrency. As well as providing both Multi-Signature Keyholder and Trusted Third Party Custodian services for our investor clients not to mention we became the very first law firm in Europe to accept bitcoin as a form of payment, an option that surely no firm purporting to be cryptocurrency specialists can fail to offer?
So what are we saying? Simply that if you need any advice on legal matters involving bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, don’t be drawn to a law firm because they say they can do what we do. Talk to us first. While we will never be able to match the City firms in size, we know that at the same time they’ll never be able to match our comprehensive real life legal experience.
If you have any legal questions regarding cryptocurrency please call us today on 020 7792 5649 or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We will help.
