Activity mapping
Feature by feature, what the product actually does in regulatory terms: holding client money, transmitting value, offering an investment, custody, exchange, lending, or none of the above.
Service 05
Regulatory compliance advisory
Navigating the regulatory maze can be daunting, and in blockchain and fintech it is not a separate workstream — it is the product. Whether a feature is a licensed activity decides the jurisdiction, the structure, the timeline and often whether the company can exist in the form it was designed.
What we do here
Mapping the regime, then the route through it
We guide startups through regulatory complexity so they can operate within legal boundaries. We are advisers, not your lawyers, and the boundary between those two roles is stated plainly below.
Jurisdiction analysis
Which authority regulates that activity in each market you serve, and where the same product is treated differently enough to change the plan.
Licence route and sequence
Whether a licence, registration or exemption applies, what it requires in capital, personnel and systems, and the order in which those requirements have to be met.
Timeline realism
What each step actually takes, so the funding plan is built against the regulatory calendar rather than a hope that the two will align.
Readiness for counterparties
Banks, processors and institutional partners run their own compliance assessment. We prepare the company for that review, which is often stricter than the regulator's.
Handover to specialists
Where a legal opinion, a licensed sponsor or a local counsel is required, we scope it and help you appoint one rather than improvising around it.
Scope
Where advisory ends and law begins
Founders deserve a clear line, because the cost of assuming an adviser is a lawyer is paid at the worst possible moment.
- What we do Map the regime, identify the authority, set out the route and sequence, prepare you for a counterparty compliance review, and translate the regulatory position into the funding plan.
- What we do not do No legal opinions, no filing as counsel, no acting as a licensed sponsor, and no confirmation that a product is lawful in a jurisdiction. Those need a locally admitted adviser.
- Why it matters An investor's diligence will ask who gave the regulatory advice and in what capacity. A clear record of that division is an asset in the data room, not an admission.
- How we work with counsel We scope the legal question narrowly enough to be answered efficiently, brief your lawyers with the commercial context, and make sure the answer is translated back into a plan the company can execute.
Questions
What founders ask about compliance
We launched already. Is it too late to ask?
No, and it is a common starting point. The work then becomes remediation: what the current exposure is, what has to stop, what can continue while an application is prepared, and how to explain the history to a counterparty who will find it anyway.
Can you get us a licence?
No adviser grants licences, and any promise of an outcome should end the conversation. We map the route, prepare the company, and coordinate with the specialists who file. The authority decides.
Does a token make us a securities issuer?
It depends on the token's rights, how it is marketed, who can buy it and where. The same asset can be a security in one jurisdiction and not in another, which is exactly why the question has to be asked per market rather than answered once.
How does this interact with a raise?
Directly. Investors price regulatory uncertainty, and an unresolved licence question is usually the single largest discount applied to an early fintech. Settling it before a raise is often worth more than any improvement to the deck.
Do you cover all four of your markets?
We work across the United Arab Emirates, St. Vincent, Panama and Bangladesh, and the markets page explains what each is genuinely useful for. Outside those, we help you scope the question and find local specialists rather than improvise.
Ask the regulatory question early
Describe what the product does — in plain language, not in legal terms — and which markets it serves. We will tell you within 24 hours which questions need answering first.