CAYMAN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Peter Colegate, Marsha Williamson and Dean Bennett, Appleby
Appleby has the oldest legal practice in Cayman. With over 80 staff, the firm is widely recognised for providing leading corporate, dispute resolution, pri- vate client and property services from the Islands. The Band 1-ranked fintech team advises on all aspects of technology and digital assets matters – working with some of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchang- es, issuers and investors. Appleby advises on the virtual assets regulatory regime, including the regis- tration and licence application process and ongoing regulatory obligations. The firm also supports with
initial structuring, entity formation, by-laws and gov- ernance structures, token launches and other fund- raising/investments, services agreements, software development and IP licensing arrangements, through to M&A and IPOs (including SPACs/de-SPACs). The teams also work with crypto-focused investment funds and investors across digital assets investments and tokenised fund projects. Through the firm’s glob- al network of eleven offices, Appleby’s multidiscipli- nary teams serve international clients on all offshore aspects of their business. ventures, and leverages her in-house experience to advise tech scale-ups on a variety of commercial matters (including product terms, consulting, IP licensing and software-development agreements). Marsha acts for virtual asset service providers, crypto-funds, Web3 protocols, DAOs and investors on virtual assets, blockchain and wider Web3 and technology matters. She was previously head of legal at two fintech scale-ups in the UK.
Authors
Peter Colegate is a partner in the corporate group and head of Appleby’s technology & innovation group. His practice is focused on strategic corporate-commercial and regulatory work in the technology and
innovation sectors. Peter acts for virtual asset service providers, tokenised funds, Web3 protocols, DAOs and investors on virtual assets, blockchain and wider Web3 and emerging technologies matters. Peter is a founding member of the Blockchain Association of the Cayman Islands and a member of the Cayman government’s Financial Services Legislative Fintech Sub-Committee and Cayman Finance Fintech Committee. Peter is also a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and previously sat on the Cayman Islands government’s Working Group on Data Protection.
Dean Bennett is a partner in Appleby’s corporate and technology & innovation groups. He has a diverse corporate practice encompassing mergers and acquisitions, de-SPACs, initial public offerings (IPOs),
fundraisings, joint ventures, derivatives and structured products, and general corporate advisory. He is regularly sought by corporations, financial sponsors and investors to advise on their strategic cross-border acquisitions, investments and divestitures, particularly in the technology, energy and infrastructure sectors. A Bitcoin mining specialist, Dean has been guiding Bitcoin miners and AI data centre providers on the offshore structuring of their operations since the emergence of large-scale mining in 2019.
Marsha Williamson is a counsel in Appleby’s corporate and technology & innovation groups. Marsha is a corporate and commercial lawyer specialising in fintech. She has broad transactions experience across M&A, investments, fundraisings and joint
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