Fintech, Blockchain and Web3
Australia’s fintech, blockchain and web3 sectors are evolving rapidly, bringing new opportunities alongside complex legal and regulatory challenges.
Whether you’re launching a fintech startup, developing a blockchain platform, navigating cryptocurrency regulation or expanding into the Australia market, you need legal advice that keeps pace with innovation. We help you manage risk, meet your regulatory obligations and bring your ideas to market.
How we can help
From startup founders, to investors, to established technology business, our fintech, blockchain and web3 lawyers can help you navigate the legal challenges of operating in this evolving sector.
Combining expertise in financial services regulation, corporate law, intellectual property, technology, tax and dispute resolution, we provide practical, commercially focused advice to help you innovate, grow and manage risk with confidence.
Our expertise includes:
- Financial services regulation and licensing: navigating Australian financial services licence (AFSL), Australian credit licence (ACL), authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) and registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensing requirements, regulatory compliance, financial product assessments and disclosure obligations, and engagement with ASIC, APRA and AUSTRAC.
- Cryptocurrency and digital assets: understanding cryptocurrency regulation in Australia, including legal requirements for digital currency exchanges, stablecoins, digital assets and token offerings, such as initial coin offerings (ICOs) and security token offerings (STOs).
- Blockchain and web3: advising on the legal implications of blockchain technology, smart contracts, tokenisation, decentralised finance (DeFi), decentralised exchanges, NFTs and other web3 innovations.
- Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF): helping you meet AUSTRAC registration, AML/CTF programs, know your customer (KYC) obligations and regulatory compliance.
- Payments and fintech innovation: supporting the development and operation of payment platforms and systems, digital marketplaces, lending businesses, remittance providers and emerging financial products, including credit card issuing, merchant acquiring, transaction processing and payment gateway arrangements.
- Corporate transactions and capital raising: supporting your business through structuring, investment fund establishment and management, capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, shareholder arrangements, and lending and security documents.
- Technology, privacy and intellectual property: protecting your business through commercial, service and customer agreements, software, IT systems and technology contracts, intellectual property protection, privacy and cybersecurity advice.
- Cryptocurrency tax and disputes: advising on Australian crypto tax and GST, domestic and international tax considerations, tax-effective business and investment structures, regulatory investigations, commercial disputes and cryptocurrency-related litigation.
- Employment and competition law: advising on employment law and competition law matters affecting your business.
Who we work with
From emerging startups to established domestic and international businesses, we work with organisations across the fintech, blockchain and web3 sectors, helping them navigate complex regulatory requirements, develop new products and bring innovative technologies to market.
Whether you’re entering the market, developing a new product or scaling your operations, we understand the challenges and opportunities facing businesses in this space.
Our clients include:
- Fintech and financial services businesses, including neobanks, lending platforms, wealthtech, regtech, insurtech and crowdfunding providers.
- Cryptocurrency and digital asset businesses, including digital currency exchanges, brokerages, crypto fund managers and businesses developing stablecoins and tokenised assets.
- Blockchain and web3 businesses, including developers of decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms, smart contracts, decentralised exchanges (DEXs), NFTs and token offerings.
- Payments and remittance providers, including businesses developing digital payment solutions, transaction processing services and payment gateways.
- Technology companies and software developers, including businesses developing digital platforms, marketplaces and emerging financial technologies.
From establishing new ventures and raising capital to managing regulatory compliance, commercial agreements, intellectual property, tax and disputes, we provide legal support at every stage of business growth.
Industry involvement that makes a difference
Whether you’re operating in a rapidly changing regulatory environment, you need legal advisors who understand not just the current requirements, but the developments shaping your industry.
Our lawyers are actively involved in Australia’s fintech, blockchain and digital assets sector, contributing to regulatory discussions, legislative reform and industry consultations.
We regularly engage with key regulators, including ASIC, APRA, AUSTRAC and the Australian Taxation Office, and contribute to industry consultations and working groups. We are also members of the Digital Economy Council of Australia and participate in Financial Services Council working groups.
Through this industry involvement, we bring practical insights into emerging regulatory developments and what they could mean for your business.
'We appreciated the team’s efficiency and it always appeared to think about what would produce the best value for our business. Hall & Wilcox is highly competent at tackling complex matters that have not previously been addressed and can think outside the square.’
Our experience
Cryptocurrency exchanges and digital assets
- ZebPay, Nexo, Ripple, WhiteBIT, CoinW and other international exchanges: Advising on entry into the Australian market, including corporate establishment, AFSL requirements, AUSTRAC registration, AML/CTF compliance and customer agreements.
- Caleb & Brown: Providing ongoing legal advice to the cryptocurrency brokerage across its business operations.
- Kraken group: Advising Beaufort Fiduciaries on establishing the Kraken Yield Trust, a wholesale fund providing pooled exposure to Ethereum staking.
- Vasco Trustees: Advising in relation to the Monochrome Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange traded funds.
- Faculty Group: Advising on the establishment of a retail investment fund lending cryptocurrency and tokens to DeFi protocols.
- TreeCoin Assets: Advising on financial services and AML/CTF regulation for a blockchain-based carbon token project.
Fintech, payments and financial services
- OpenMarkets Australia: Advising on blockchain-based trading, clearing and settlement infrastructure for tokenised financial products, including Australian market and clearing and settlement facility licensing.
- Openmarkets Group: Conducting cross-disciplinary due diligence across 10 entities in connection with a proposed NYSE listing via a de-SPAC transaction.
- WEX Australia: Advising on the procurement and implementation of a merchant terminal solution, including supplier risk assessments and contract negotiations.
- SNUG: Advising on the development and regulatory structuring of an innovative home equity release product.
- MyAssetPay: Advising on the launch of an online pawnbroking service offering loans secured against alternative assets.
- IBA: Assisting with AFSL, ACL and authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) applications.
Blockchain, tokenisation and investment funds
- Laxivana Master Fund: Establishing a tokenisation platform structured as a wholesale managed investment scheme.
- Mezfi: Advising on the establishment of a tokenised retail mezzanine finance feeder fund.
- Liquid Noble: Advising on the financial product classification of precious-metals-backed digital tokens and reviewing the associated whitepaper.
- YourCryptoLink: Advising on a B2B platform enabling financial advisers to provide cryptocurrency investment services, integrating KYC, AML/CTF checks and trade execution.
- Minke: Advising on the offering of a digital wallet providing access to decentralised finance protocols.
- Conduit Digital Holdings: Advising on the AFSL implications of promoting an offshore tokenised money market fund in Australia.
Cryptocurrency tax, regulation and disputes
- Caleb & Brown: Advising on tax structuring for its acquisition by Swyftx in a transaction valued at more than $100 million.
- ZebPay: Advising on Australian withholding tax obligations arising from decentralised finance borrowing arrangements.
- Regulatory investigations: Acting in concurrent ASIC and AUSTRAC investigations involving an unregistered cryptocurrency managed investment scheme and approximately $7.7 million in investor losses.
- Cryptocurrency tax and GST: Advising on the Australian tax treatment of cryptocurrency transactions, including domestic and international exchanges, investment funds and digital platforms.
- Regulatory submissions: Contributing to Treasury and OECD consultations on ICOs, token regulation and taxation of the digital economy.
Our Fintech and Blockchain Lead, Partner John Bassilios is the author of the Australian chapter of Lexology’s Getting the Deal Through - Fintech (2023), highlighting his expertise in financial regulation, financial crime, AI, and other emerging areas shaping financial services.
Partner John Bassilios authored a feature article on Crypto Regulation in Australia for The International Journal of Blockchain Law, showcasing deep insight into one of the most rapidly evolving areas of financial regulation.
