Practitioners highlighted for a distinctive sub-specialty edge in this field — beyond the directory criteria.
New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) · United States
Editor's note. NYDFS Superintendent operating the most rigorous US state-level crypto licence (BitLicense). Active policy voice on stablecoin reserves and operational supervision.
Adrienne A. Harris is Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the regulator that operates the NYDFS BitLicense — the most rigorous US state-level crypto credential. Harris took the Superintendent role in January 2022. Her NYDFS tenure has overseen substantial expansion of the BitLicense framework, crypto-asset operator authorisations including major exchanges and custodians, and policy development on stablecoin reserves and operational requirements. NYDFS under Harris has been one of the most active US regulators on crypto-asset firm supervision.
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United States Senate · United States
Editor's note. Co-sponsor of GENIUS Act (US federal stablecoin framework) and broader US crypto-asset legislative architecture. Most prominent congressional voice on crypto legislation.
Cynthia M. Lummis is United States Senator from Wyoming and one of the most prominent congressional voices on crypto-asset legislation. Senator Lummis co-sponsored the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act of 2025), the federal stablecoin regulatory framework that took effect in the US stablecoin landscape. She has been an advocate for crypto-asset legislative clarity since entering the Senate in 2021 and is one of the principal legislative architects of the emerging US federal crypto-asset framework.
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Custodia Bank · United States
Editor's note. Architect of Wyoming SPDI framework — most-developed US state-level crypto-banking model. Federal Reserve master-account litigation shapes public-record analysis of crypto-bank regulatory access.
Caitlin Long is Founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, a Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) designed specifically for digital-asset custody and banking. Long is one of the architects of the Wyoming digital-asset regulatory framework — the most-developed US state-level crypto regulatory framework — and has been one of the most-influential industry voices on banking-system integration with crypto-assets. Her Federal Reserve master-account application litigation has shaped the public understanding of crypto-bank Federal Reserve access framework.
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Circle Internet Financial · United States, European Union
Editor's note. Regulator-to-industry transition from CFTC Chair to Circle CLO. Bridges institutional US derivatives regulation insight with stablecoin issuer compliance positioning.
Heath Tarbert is Chief Legal Officer of Circle Internet Financial — the issuer of USDC, one of the largest USD-pegged stablecoins globally. Before joining Circle in 2021, Tarbert served as Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2019 to 2021, where he oversaw US derivatives regulation during a period of substantial crypto-asset framework development. His move from CFTC Chair to Circle is one of the highest-profile regulator-to-industry transitions in US crypto policy and gives Circle institutional regulator-side insight that has shaped USDC's compliance positioning under MiCA, the GENIUS Act, and global stablecoin frameworks.
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US Securities and Exchange Commission · United States
Editor's note. Most influential US regulator-side voice on token-classification and the Howey test. Token Safe Harbor proposal essential primary-source reading for US securities-law analysis.
Hester Peirce is a Commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Known publicly as "Crypto Mom" for her constructive engagement with the crypto-asset industry, Peirce has been one of the most-influential US regulator voices on token-classification, the Howey test application to crypto-assets, and the broader securities-law framework for digital assets. She proposed the influential "Safe Harbor" framework for token offerings designed to provide a regulated pathway for token network development. Her dissents on SEC enforcement actions against crypto operators have been widely cited and have shaped industry understanding of US securities-law boundaries.
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American University Washington College of Law · United States
Editor's note. Most-rigorous academic-side counterweight to industry-friendly crypto deregulation arguments. Driverless Finance essential reading on financial-stability implications.
Hilary J. Allen is Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law and one of the most-influential academic critics of crypto-asset deregulation in the United States. Her published research and policy commentary focus on financial stability implications of crypto-asset markets, stablecoin systemic risk, and the broader question of whether crypto-asset financial infrastructure should be integrated with or quarantined from the traditional financial system. Her book "Driverless Finance" addresses the broader question of automation and financial-system stability with substantial application to crypto-asset frameworks.
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ISOLAS LLP · Gibraltar, United Kingdom
Editor's note. Architect of the world's first dedicated DLT regulatory framework (Gibraltar 2018). Chambers FinTech Band 1 ranked counsel for Gibraltar.
Joey Garcia is Partner at ISOLAS LLP in Gibraltar — one of Gibraltar's oldest and most prominent law firms and the principal counsel on the development of the Gibraltar Distributed Ledger Technology regulatory framework. Garcia was one of the architects of the world's first dedicated DLT regulatory framework launched by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission in January 2018. His practice covers DLT licence applications, crypto-asset fund formation, blockchain technology law, and the broader Gibraltar fintech regulatory landscape.
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Tether Operations Limited · British Virgin Islands, European Union, United States
Editor's note. General Counsel of largest stablecoin issuer through systemic-scale growth period. Operational compliance positioning across BVI, US NYAG settlement, and EU MiCA frameworks.
Stuart Hoegner is General Counsel of Tether — the issuer of USDT, the largest stablecoin globally by issuance volume. Hoegner has held the General Counsel role since 2017 through Tether's growth from emerging stablecoin to systemic USD-denominated digital-asset payment infrastructure. His role spans regulatory engagement across multiple jurisdictions including the British Virgin Islands (Tether's primary corporate base), the United States (including the New York Attorney General settlement), the European Union (MiCA framework analysis), and the broader global supervisor environment that systemic stablecoins now operate within.
Full profile → Editor's note. Leads the firm's El Salvador division — uniquely positioned in the world's first Bitcoin-legal-tender jurisdiction with EU back-office support.
Felix Canizales is Associate Partner, Consultant and LATAM Business Development Manager at Gofaizen & Sherle. He leads the firm's El Salvador division and has been instrumental in shaping the El Salvadorian fintech landscape — combining fintech-law expertise with regulatory-compliance and business-consulting depth.
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Cahill Gordon & Reindel (CahillNXT) · United States
Editor's note. Chambers Global Band 1 — one of only three US lawyers at the top band for blockchain & cryptocurrencies. Combination of 20+ years capital-markets seniority and crypto-asset depth is distinctive.
Lewis Cohen is Partner and Co-chair of the CahillNXT crypto-and-digital-assets practice at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York. Previously co-founder of DLx Law, joined Cahill in May 2024 to expand the firm's crypto practice. With 20+ years as a traditional capital-markets and finance partner at two Global Top 50 law firms, Lewis is recognised by Chambers Global as one of only three lawyers in "Band 1" for Legal: Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies in the USA.
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Gofaizen & Sherle · Estonia, Lithuania, European Union, United Arab Emirates, El Salvador
Editor's note. Co-founder and senior partner of the CLPAI #1-ranked firm. Mark's positioning across MiCA, UAE VARA, and El Salvador markets is distinctive among EU crypto-licensing practitioners.
Mark Gofaizen is the Senior Partner and Head of Consulting at Gofaizen & Sherle, the international legal and business advisory firm specialising in fintech, blockchain, crypto-asset licensing, and global corporate structuring. With more than a decade of hands-on experience, Mark has established the firm's positioning across MiCA, UAE VARA, and Latin American crypto-licensing markets. Gofaizen & Sherle ranks #1 in the 2026 CLPAI Index.
Full profile → Editor's note. Founder of Dilendorf Law Firm — one of the first US digital-asset-dedicated practices, founded 2017. Distinctive track record on consumer-arbitration matters against major exchanges.
Max Dilendorf is Founder of Dilendorf Law Firm in New York, one of the first US attorneys to dedicate his practice to digital-asset law. He founded the firm in 2017 and has 15+ years of experience advising US and international clients on digital-asset custody, regulatory compliance, asset protection, estate planning, cybercrime recovery, and cross-border structuring. He has represented clients in 130+ consumer arbitration matters against major crypto exchanges including Coinbase and Gemini.
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Davis Polk & Wardwell · United States
Editor's note. Lead M&A partner on the largest crypto acquisition of 2025 — CoreWeave's USD 9bn all-stock take-out of Core Scientific. Davis Polk's go-to deal counsel for crypto-adjacent transactions.
Michael Gilson is a Partner in Davis Polk's Mergers & Acquisitions practice in New York, elected partner in July 2022. He advises US and international corporate and private equity clients on public and private transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, spinoffs, restructurings, and special-committee representations. He led Davis Polk's representation of CoreWeave on its USD 9 billion all-stock acquisition of crypto miner Core Scientific — the largest crypto-asset M&A transaction of 2025.
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Clifford Chance · Singapore
Editor's note. Singapore Partner in a global digital-assets team — the kind of dual EU-and-APAC coverage MAS-track firms increasingly need.
Lena Ng is a Partner in Clifford Chance's Singapore office and a member of the firm's Global Digital Assets and DLT working group. Her practice covers the Singapore Payment Services Act regime for Digital Payment Token services, MAS supervision, and cross-border crypto-licensing strategy for Asia-Pacific clients.
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SBSB Fintech Lawyers · Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, El Salvador
Editor's note. Managing Partner of a multi-jurisdictional firm with documented offices and crypto-licensing practice across nine countries — one of the few practitioners running named, cross-border crypto advisory at this geographic scale.
Yuliya Barabash is Managing Partner of SBSB Fintech Lawyers, a firm she has led since 2013. SBSB has offices across Lithuania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, the UAE, Costa Rica, Italy, Mauritius, and El Salvador, with a practice focused on crypto licensing, AML/CFT compliance, and cross-border fintech advisory.
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