Among the first U.S. firms to advise digital-asset funds and platforms, work we have done since 2014. Regulatory strategy, token offerings, corporate structure, and tax, drafted so the next regulator and the next round find a clean record.
The same token can be a security to the SEC, a commodity to the CFTC and property to the IRS, and all three can be right at once. Classification therefore comes before the offering document, because a token's character under Howey, the Commodity Exchange Act and the money-transmission rules decides which agency owns the project's next several years.
Firm facts · ReachA corporate and private-capital boutique with international reach: a principal office in Chicago, a second office in Oakbrook Terrace, offices in London and Dubai through partner firms, meeting locations by appointment in seven further US cities, and a partner network across ~51 jurisdictions on five continents. Founded 2013.
That analysis has been this firm's work since 2014, when the clients were digital-asset funds and the platforms financing them. The method has not changed through the enforcement cycles since: the compliance perimeter goes in at formation, meaning entity and custody architecture, key-management protocol and a BSA/AML program, each documented and dated before anyone asks. A file with dates on it is the difference between an information request and an enforcement action.
The firm has represented clients in matters before the SEC, the CFTC and the IRS, which is useful, because most of a token mandate is the regulated life after launch: wallet-level tax reporting on an asset the IRS treats as property, exchange and market-maker agreements, and protocol changes reviewed before they ship.
Money transmission, securities, tax reporting, and AML read together as one set of federal and state frameworks, and built into a compliance program that can be updated as guidance and enforcement priorities move.
Explore this practice →Token classification, registration and exemption analysis, and ongoing securities-law compliance for digital-asset projects, with representation in matters before the SEC where enforcement is in play.
Explore this practice →The IRS treats digital assets as property; nearly every transaction is a potential taxable event. We handle reporting, transaction structuring, and representation in matters before the IRS.
Explore this practice →Regulated futures and derivatives under CFTC oversight, covering compliance, clearing and margin obligations, and market-making frameworks for institutional participants in digital-asset derivatives.
Explore this practice →Securities-law analysis before launch, offering documentation, smart-contract review, and post-offering governance, for token sales structured for exemption or registration with investor protection built in.
Explore this practice →Patent, trademark, trade-secret, and licensing strategy for blockchain innovations and digital-asset brands, protecting the technology and the name across the jurisdictions where they are used.
Explore this practice →Capital-gains and loss strategy, entity selection, DeFi and staking positions, and the record-keeping exchanges rarely provide, planned for traders, investors, and mining operations.
Explore this practice →Entity formation, multi-jurisdictional planning, and governance for digital-asset and blockchain companies, with structures that accommodate token offerings and custody while meeting regulatory obligations.
Explore this practice →Digital assets can become permanently inaccessible without a plan. Succession, key and wallet protocols, trust structures, and tax-efficient transfer, so holdings reach beneficiaries intact.
Explore this practice →Anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer programs for digital-asset businesses, with risk frameworks, onboarding controls, and the documentation that withstands a regulator's review.
Explore this practice →Bringing real-world assets on-chain, with securities analysis, SPV structuring, custody, and transfer mechanics drafted so the token and the asset behind it stay in lockstep.
Explore this practice →Token and digital-asset offerings from securities analysis through structuring and offering documents, drafted for exemption or registration with the record clean from the first draft.
Explore this practice →The SEC, the CFTC, FinCEN, and the IRS can all reach the same business through different doors: securities, commodities, money transmission, and tax. The frameworks overlap, and the order in which they apply is rarely obvious.
How a token is structured, distributed, and used determines which rules apply. The same instrument can be a utility token to one analysis and a security to another; that determination drives the entire offering.
Sales, exchanges, mining rewards, staking income, and even paying for goods in crypto are potential taxable events. Exchanges rarely furnish complete records, so the reporting burden falls on the holder.
Agency scrutiny of non-compliant projects has intensified across securities, derivatives, and tax. Compliance that is documented and dated is the difference between a question and an enforcement action.
Private-key management, custody, and wallet security shape corporate governance as much as operations, and in estate planning they decide if assets are recoverable at all.
Global operations must reconcile different jurisdictions' securities, tax, and AML regimes. What is compliant in one market can be an offense in another; the structure has to anticipate both.
We have advised in the digital-asset space since 2014, among the first U.S. firms to counsel digital-asset funds and platforms, before the category had a settled name or a settled regulator. That tenure is a body of judgment about how these frameworks actually move.
Fund formation, securities, and the governance that keeps a portfolio defensible, for the funds, sponsors, and family offices financing digital-asset ventures.
Private Capital →Entity formation, governance, IP and licensing, and the corporate spine that a digital-asset company is built on, drawn from the same platform.
Corporate →M&A tax, cross-border structuring, capital-markets tax, and the planning that makes a digital-asset transaction efficient, written in from the first draft.
Tax →Hart David Carson LLP's digital assets and blockchain practice covers regulatory strategy, token offerings, corporate structure, and tax across the digital-asset lifecycle. The work spans regulatory compliance, securities and the SEC, the IRS, the CME, initial coin offerings, licensing and intellectual property, trader tax, corporate structure, crypto estate planning, and AML/KYC.
Hart David Carson LLP has advised in the digital-asset space since 2014, among the first U.S. firms to counsel digital-asset funds and the platforms financing them, before the category had a settled name or a settled regulator. That tenure is a body of judgment about how these frameworks actually move.
The SEC, the CFTC, FinCEN, and the IRS can all reach the same business through different doors: securities, commodities, money transmission, and tax. The frameworks overlap, and the order in which they apply is rarely obvious, which is why the analysis maps a token, fund, or exchange onto all of them at once.
The IRS treats digital assets as property, so nearly every transaction is a potential taxable event. Sales, exchanges, mining rewards, staking income, and even paying for goods in crypto can be taxable, and because exchanges rarely furnish complete records, the reporting burden falls on the holder.
Yes. We have represented clients in matters before the SEC, the CFTC, and the IRS. Our clients in those matters are the companies, never the agencies.
Crypto estate planning is the work of getting digital assets to beneficiaries intact, because holdings can become permanently inaccessible without a plan. It covers succession, key and wallet protocols, trust structures, and tax-efficient transfer for the digital-asset estate.
Before a line of the offering is drafted, we map the token against Howey, the CEA's commodity definitions, and money-transmission triggers, because its character as a security, a commodity, or a payment instrument decides which regulator owns your next five years.
Entity and issuer structuring, custody and key-management architecture, BSA/AML and KYC programs, and state licensing analysis make up the compliance perimeter, and it goes into the structure at formation rather than after a subpoena.
Offering documents, exemption strategy, exchange and market-maker agreements, and tokenization mechanics for real-world assets, coordinated with our private-capital and tax teams so the raise and the reporting reconcile.
Examinations, information requests, and matters before the SEC, CFTC, and IRS, along with ongoing disclosure, wallet-level tax reporting, and protocol changes reviewed before they ship. The launch takes a day, and the regulated life that follows is the mandate.
The token is written in code, and its classification is written into everything that follows.
Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
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