Mr. Payne has developed an expertise in advising crypto companies in the myriad issues they face in the current unsettled U.S. regulatory environment.
As President of Blockade United, Mr. Payne currently serves as counsel and strategic advisor to a family of companies with traditional business models (debit cards, telehealth, physical security, etc.) that incorporate blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in order to decentralize control and provide opportunities for the public to help disrupt industry. Mr. Payne’s work is incredibly varied, including advising on the potential application of the securities laws to business operations, creating a compliance framework, drafting and revising contracts, setting up overseas operations, and performing diligence to assist with recruiting as well as mergers and acquisition opportunities.
Mr. Payne also serves as advisor to Node Governance, a Swiss company dedicated to helping crypto companies decentralize governance of their blockchains and digital assets.
In his previous role as a shareholder and leader of Murphy & McGonigle’s FinTech & Blockchain Practice Group, Mr. Payne had a diverse range of crypto clients. He assisted a large public company in developing a security token offering along with a platform for trading the securities. He also advised numerous companies on securities law risks associated with distributing, issuing, selling, or otherwise relying on cryptocurrencies and NFTs in various business models. Apart from his crypto practice, he also assisted financial services firms and public companies facing civil litigation and regulatory enforcement matters, as well as counseling clients on compliance with industry regulations.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Payne defended mortgage originators and RMBS sponsors in litigation and government investigation spawned by the 2008 financial crisis. The team had numerous important wins, including the dismissal of monoline bond insurer plaintiffs from a $1.8 billion lawsuit, favorable settlements, and protection of sensitive client information in discovery.
Mr. Payne is a 2009 graduate of the University of Richmond Law School, where he was a John Marshall Scholar.
Mr. Murphy is the Founder/Chairman of Ludlow Street Advisors, LLC. Ludlow Street is a strategic advisory firm that provides advice to innovative companies leveraging blockchain technology, with a particular emphasis on digital assets, cryptocurrency mining, metaverse, gaming and Web3 projects. Mr. Murphy is a thought leader, advisor, and frequent speaker on blockchain technology and regulation of the digital assets space.
Prior to founding Ludlow Street Advisors, Mr. Murphy served as the founding Chairman of the Murphy & McGonigle law firm. From 2010 to 2021, Mr. Murphy led the firm’s expansion into offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. As a partner in the firm, Mr. Murphy served as lead trial counsel to public companies (primarily Wall Street investment banks, commercial banks and securities broker/dealers) in high-stakes litigation in state and federal courts throughout the U.S. Under his leadership, the Murphy & McGonigle firm was twice recognized as the “Law Firm of the Year” in Securities Regulation by US News/Best Lawyers in America. Starting in 2017, Mr. Murphy shifted the focus of his law practice to advising innovative companies leveraging blockchain technology, particularly in the digital assets space.
Mr. Murphy was recognized as the 2022 Securities Regulation “Lawyer of the Year” in the Richmond, Virginia market by US News/Best Lawyers in America. He is also listed in Virginia Super Lawyers and Virginia Business magazine’s “Legal Elite.” Mr. Murphy has been awarded Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating, AV Preeminent (5.0/5.0).
Steve is a financial services industry leader who has previously served as a senior legal executive at Citizens Financial Group, Capital One Financial Corporation, and Wachovia Securities. He has spent the last two decades as an advisor on the highest levels of strategic decision-making for several of the country's largest financial institutions.
Steve previously served as the general counsel of Citizens Financial Group, the nation's 12th largest retail and commercial bank, where he served on the executive committee and directed all legal, corporate governance, corporate transactions, government relations, regulatory relations, and litigation functions for the company.
He advises the banking industry on regulatory and strategic matters ranging from public policy and corporate governance to litigation, compliance, and administrative actions. He also focuses on helping the industry adapt to and stay on top of the burgeoning fintech and digital asset spaces, about which he speaks and writes frequently.
Hector Ivan Velez is General Counsel at Flowcarbon. Hector has held senior legal roles in investment banking focused on derivatives and capital markets. Most recently, as Associate General Counsel at Coinbase, he led cross-functional teams in developing Coinbase International Exchange with the purpose of launching a perpetual futures exchange in Bermuda as well as consistently engaging with both domestic and international regulators. Previously, he worked at Lehman Brothers, Barclays, HSBC and Wells Fargo covering swap dealers and broker dealers in foreign exchange, fixed income, precious metals, equity derivatives, repos, and securities forward trading.
Cathryn Bonar is an accomplished Chief Compliance Officer who currently serves as the Chief Compliance Officer for Blockade United, a boutique legal and compliance operation dedicated to serving a family of blockchain companies. With a proven track record of success in creating and implementing effective corporate compliance strategies, Cathryn's expertise extends to developing blockchain compliance programs, drafting and revising company policies, and designing interactive sales compliance courses that promote ethical behavior and ensure regulatory compliance.
In addition, Cathryn possesses extensive experience working with various regulatory bodies, including the FDA and the SEC. As a skilled leader with strong interpersonal and communication skills, she is able to build and maintain strong relationships with colleagues and employees. Her ability to create effective compliance communication programs, drive quality improvement, and identify and rectify weaknesses in compliance processes demonstrates her unwavering commitment to delivering impactful outcomes.
In summary, Cathryn Bonar is a highly capable Chief Compliance Officer with a solution-driven approach to complex compliance challenges. Her ability to devise innovative strategies that meet the needs of any organization makes her a trusted partner and valuable member of any team.
Sumeet Chugani is General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Cloaked. Prior to joining Cloaked, Sumeet was an Associate General Counsel at Coinbase, leading the Retail and International Exchange platforms. Prior to Coinbase, Sumeet was SVP & Deputy General Counsel at Apple Bank, where led the Consumer and Small Business Banking, Corporate Insurance, and Corporate Real Estate legal teams. Prior to joining Apple Bank, he led Citizens Bank Legal in merchant installment, personal loans, credit cards, consumer payments, and digital marketing. Prior to his in-house roles, Sumeet was a regulatory consultant at PwC, and a consumer financial services litigator at Akerman LLP and Diaz, Reus & Targ LLP.
Karl Cole-Frieman is Managing Partner of Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP and serves as counsel to many of the most prominent hedge fund managers in the United States. Karl is well-known in the industry for the range of his expertise regarding this client demographic and his innovative work with managers who invest in non-traditional asset classes. Karl is highly sought after for business-oriented and practical advice stemming from his long career working as both an in-house and external adviser. He has guided hundreds of start-up managers by launching their first fund and has the breadth of experience to advise very large managers.
Karl is a trusted adviser and is nationally recognized as a leading cryptocurrency lawyer. He represents many of the largest cryptocurrency fund managers in the country. Karl also serves on the Board of Directors of OKCoin, a globally licensed cryptocurrency exchange.
Prior to co-founding Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP, Karl was General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Standard Pacific Capital, LLC (“Standard Pacific”), an SEC-registered hedge fund manager in San Francisco with offices in New York, Hong Kong, and a sub-adviser in Tokyo. In addition to managing the Legal and Compliance Departments at Standard Pacific, Karl was also responsible for Human Resources, IT, General Administration, and particular operations and strategic matters for Standard Pacific’s credit strategy.
Before joining Standard Pacific, Karl was Associate General Counsel of Sagamore Hill Capital Management, L.P., a multi-strategy hedge fund in Greenwich, Connecticut, with an office in London.
Prior to that, he was Vice President and Associate General Counsel at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JP Morgan”). He was lead counsel for Loan Trading and Distressed Debt and actively involved in the Loan Syndications and Trading Association. During his tenure at JPMorgan and predecessor firm, Hambrecht & Quist, Karl also supported the M&A, Corporate Finance, and Private Equity Groups. He began his career in 1997 as an Associate in the Litigation Department of Shearman & Sterling.
Karl lives with his wife, Wanda, and twins, Isaac and Taylor, in Oakland, CA, where he enjoys running and biking and is a Crossfit Level 1 Trainer.
Florian Ducommun is a recognized and seasoned attorney in Technology and Innovation law, Blockchain, Fintech, Digital Assets and Intellectual Property.
He is a Partner at Bonnard Lawson International Law Firm, with offices in Switzerland, Dubai, Paris and affiliated offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Florian actively contributed to the development of the legal framework for tokenization and digital assets in Switzerland. He is also one of the French translator of the Creative Commons licenses.
Since then, he has been very much involved in the open-source movement and community.
Florian has a law degree from the University of Lausanne where he wrote his thesis on "Open Source Licenses". He also got a comparative law postgraduate degree (LL.M) from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His LL.M thesis was about the protection of traditional knowledge and access and benefit sharing (ABS).
Johnathan Madsen is a legal advisor to a family of crypto companies.
Skillful corporate attorney, intellectual property expert and blockchain/crypto enthusiast, with a demonstrated history of providing high quality legal counsel and brand protection assurance to both private and publicly traded companies in highly regulated industries, offering solutions to executive-level and upper management on a variety of legal matters. Constantly striving to effectively expand practice capabilities and synergize with others to engender a general culture of brand protection and product security worldwide.
Substantial experience in IP portfolio management, patent drafting and prosecution, trademark procurance and protection, litigation support, strategic IP implementation, and defining global brand protection strategies, while executing corporate priorities, driving profitability by implementing goal-oriented processes to achieve productivity targets and revenue goals. Ready to act, preparing and delivering technically accurate and legally sound work product for brand protection, intellectual property leverage, value chain integrity, risk mitigating practices, and growth objectives.
John Huber is a statured leader with over 26 years of litigation experience. Over the course of his career John has personally tried hundreds of civil and criminal cases to verdict, including personally trying 11 cases to jury verdict and supervising and directing 30+ others in Federal Court. Having served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah from 2015-2021, John was the longest-tenured active U.S. Attorney in the United States for four years. First nominated by President Obama and later re-nominated by President Trump, he was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate both times. During his tenure, John was entrusted with sensitive investigations that were the subject of intense scrutiny on the national stage. He is known for productivity and his ability to build teams and solutions to meet complex challenges.
John has handled matters of national security, terrorism, espionage, controlled substances diversion, trade secrets, and has prosecuted high-profile cases against individuals and organized crime groups. He was also appointed as a “leader amongst leaders” on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys (AGAC), where he helped shape and oversee U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) practice and policy over two presidential administrations. John’s breadth of experience and focus includes complex investigations and litigation of fraud involving corporations, financial institutions, securities, health care, trade secrets, and false claims.
John also focuses his practice on helping businesses expand and operate internationally. As a board member of World Trade Center® Utah, John uses Greenberg Traurig LLP’s global platform to provide the insight that will help businesses pursue their goals.
Dr. Boris Richard is the Global Head of Crypto Advisory and Digital Asset Economic Disputes at JS Held. He has nearly 25 years of experience in institutional fixed income and derivatives markets, as well as consulting and expert work in complex litigations, arbitrations, and investigations. Dr. Richard focuses on cryptocurrencies, blockchain economics and token valuation, token offerings, as well as cryptocurrency related expert work, virtual asset tracing investigations, and responses to regulatory inquiries and enforcement actions. His clients include major law firms, cryptocurrency exchanges, digital asset issuers, custodians, Decentralized Finance platforms, blockchain foundations, and institutional investors.
Dr. Richard presented at various public forums and chaired multiple discussion panels of digital asset industry executives and attorneys on a variety of cryptocurrency related issues, including regulatory and litigation issues, digital asset compliance, cryptoasset valuations, risk and structure of cryptocurrency markets. He is a repeated presenter at Horasis, Knowledge Group webinars, and CPA Academy Webinars.
Dr. Richard has presented written witness testimony in the form of expert reports in cases of alleged securities registration violations by digital token issuers, alleged price and volume manipulation in centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency markets, and damages claims involving a proof-of-stake digital asset. He and his team get routinely engaged in digital asset tracing and blockchain analytics projects as part of regulatory inquiries or crypto litigation matters.
Dr. Richard presented at various public forums and chaired multiple discussion panels of digital asset industry executives and attorneys on a variety of cryptocurrency related issues, including regulatory and litigation issues, digital asset compliance, cryptoasset valuations, risk and structure of cryptocurrency markets. He is a repeated presenter at Horasis, Knowledge Group webinars, and CPA Academy Webinars.
Dr. Richard has presented written witness testimony in the form of expert reports in cases of alleged securities registration violations by digital token issuers, alleged price and volume manipulation in centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency markets, and damages claims involving a proof-of-stake digital asset. He and his team get routinely engaged in digital asset tracing and blockchain analytics projects as part of regulatory inquiries or crypto litigation matters.
