HVG Law offers vari­ous leg­al ser­vices related to block­chain tech­no­logy. Some examples are:

Advice on the leg­al aspects of set­ting up a block­chain pro­ject, such as determ­in­ing the leg­al struc­ture of the organ­iz­a­tion, draft­ing smart con­tracts, and com­ply­ing with laws and reg­u­la­tions. Assist­ance in obtain­ing per­mits and com­ply­ing with reg­u­la­tions for the use of block­chain, such as AML/KYC reg­u­la­tions. Sup­port in draft­ing and eval­u­at­ing con­tracts and agree­ments, such as the sale of tokens or set­ting up part­ner­ships. Guid­ance in dis­putes and con­flicts that may arise in the con­text of block­chain pro­jects, such as dis­putes over the exe­cu­tion of smart con­tracts or obtain­ing com­pens­a­tion. Advice on the tax con­sequences of block­chain trans­ac­tions and pro­jects. Sup­port in draft­ing white­pa­pers and oth­er doc­u­ments required for an Ini­tial Coin Offer­ing (ICO). Assist­ance in draft­ing pri­vacy and data pro­tec­tion policies for block­chain applic­a­tions.

It is import­ant to keep in mind that block­chain tech­no­logy is still a new and rap­idly evolving field, and that the leg­al rules and reg­u­la­tions may vary by coun­try. HVG Law can help you with this.

The legis­la­tion in the area of block­chain and crypto assets is not yet well developed at a nation­al level. The Dutch legis­lature often lags behind the fast tech­no­lo­gic­al innov­a­tions. This also means that there is not much reg­u­la­tion yet. The nation­al legis­lat­or and reg­u­lat­ors are cur­rently doing a lot of research into how to fur­ther reg­u­late this sec­tor in order to bet­ter pro­tect con­sumers. They are not doing this alone and often rely on the guidelines and rules from Europe. The European legis­lat­or is cur­rently work­ing on many legis­lat­ive ini­ti­at­ives aimed at bet­ter reg­u­lat­ing the crypto assets sec­tor. Think, for example, of the Mar­kets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) Reg­u­la­tion and the Trans­fer of Funds Reg­u­la­tion (TFR).

We have already suc­cess­fully helped many parties with regis­ter­ing their crypto com­pany with DNB. We also have extens­ive exper­i­ence in provid­ing reg­u­lat­ory advice on fin­an­cial block­chain solu­tions. Think of using block­chain for cer­tain employ­ee reward schemes; advising on the issu­ance of crypto-tokens and set­ting up a Decent­ral­ized Autonom­ous Organ­iz­a­tion (DAO).

As one of the few law firms with extens­ive exper­i­ence in this space, we are able to help you with your reg­u­lat­ory ques­tions. We keep track of all rel­ev­ant reg­u­lat­ory devel­op­ments and can there­fore also pre­pare you for the legis­la­tion under which you will fall with­in the next few years. Think, for example, of the qual­i­fic­a­tion of the tokens issued, the types of crypto-ser­vice ser­vices that are reg­u­lated and the solvency require­ments that an issuer must meet.

In the block­chain world, we recog­nize that pro­jects are being developed around the decent­ral­iz­a­tion of vari­ous ser­vices. People are inclined to work togeth­er in a decent­ral­ized man­ner using decent­ral­ized autonom­ous organ­iz­a­tions (DAOs). Since DAOs are a rel­at­ively new concept in our cur­rent eco­nomy, the leg­al frame­work is not yet fully estab­lished and is still rap­idly devel­op­ing. At HVG Law, we closely fol­low the busi­ness and not­ari­al devel­op­ments and the con­sequences there­of in the Block­chain space.

If DAOs are not truly decent­ral­ized and have no leg­al wrap­ping, vari­ous leg­al risks can arise. An example of this is a too high liab­il­ity risk for DAO mem­bers. At HVG Law, we advise on the use of Dutch leg­al forms as a leg­al wrap­per to lim­it such risks and enable DAOs to par­ti­cip­ate in leg­al trans­ac­tions.

When form­ing a leg­al wrap­per, vari­ous aspects must be taken into account. The pur­pose of the DAO, profit shar­ing, exclu­sion of liab­il­ity of mem­bers, trans­fer form­al­it­ies of shares/interests and oth­er aspects are rel­ev­ant in choos­ing the leg­al form as a leg­al wrap­per. These factors influ­ence the choice for one of the Dutch law forms.