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The UK Law Firms Shaping the Tokenisation and RWA Space

  • Writer: Shawn Jhanji
    Shawn Jhanji
  • 1 hour ago
  • 7 min read
The UK legal market for digital assets is more developed than it might appear from the outside. A cohort of firms has invested deeply in capability across regulatory, transactional and disputes dimensions of tokenisation and cryptoasset work. They range from Magic Circle giants advising sovereign bond issuances to specialist boutiques handling crypto disputes and startup advisory. Here is a guide to who is doing what, and who is best positioned to help different kinds of businesses.

The tokenisation of real world assets has graduated from experimental pilots to mainstream financial infrastructure with remarkable speed. In the UK alone, regulatory frameworks have been overhauled, the FCA has published its fund tokenisation rulebook and the Digital Securities Sandbox is live and accepting applicants. As the market matures, founders, investors and institutions building in this space increasingly need legal partners who genuinely understand the territory.


The question is: who are they?


The UK legal market for digital assets is more developed than it might appear from the outside. A cohort of firms has invested deeply in capability across regulatory, transactional and disputes dimensions of tokenisation and cryptoasset work. They range from Magic Circle giants advising sovereign bond issuances to specialist boutiques handling crypto disputes and startup advisory. Here is a guide to who is doing what, and who is best positioned to help different kinds of businesses.


Linklaters is the natural starting point for any serious institutional transaction in the UK tokenisation space. The firm's financial regulation team, which includes partners Harry Eddis, Richard Hay and Peter Bevan, has produced a most comprehensive running commentary on the UK regulatory timeline of any firm in the market.


The firm submitted detailed responses to every major FCA and HM Treasury cryptoasset consultation and has published analysis of each consequential development: from "UK cryptoasset regulation: where are we now?" through to "FCA drafts cryptoasset perimeter guidance" and "UK to bring stablecoins into payment services regulation." Most recently, Raza Naeem and Elliot Jack published "FCA sets approach for direct dealing and tokenisation for UK fund management industry," tracking the implications of PS26/7 for fund managers.


Linklaters has advised on the first tokenised repackaging notes issuance in Hong Kong SAR, the Hong Kong government's inaugural multi-currency digital green bond offering and the first digitally native notes listed on HKEX. It is the go-to choice for large financial institutions running complex, cross-jurisdictional digital securities transactions. For startups and early-stage businesses, Linklaters is structured for large mandates and fees reflect that, but its track record on first-to-market deals is unmatched.


Ashurst (now Perkins Coie and Ashurst after merger announcement last week) has built a serious Digital Assets and Financial Innovation practice that bridges traditional financial services regulation and cutting-edge tokenisation work. That practice has been led by Etay Katz, a Senior Partner appointed to the FCA's Innovation Advisory Group, giving the firm a direct line into the regulator's thinking as the new cryptoasset regime takes shape. Katz has advised Goldman Sachs on the development of a multi-asset class digital securities platform, alongside a range of institutions navigating the intersection of traditional finance and tokenised instruments.


Ashurst publishes a monthly Global Digital Assets Digest that has become a standard reference for market participants, alongside dedicated pieces including "Digital Assets in 2026: What to Watch" and "FCA progressing fund tokenisation (CP25/28): game changer," which provided early analysis of the FCA's fund tokenisation proposals ahead of PS26/7. The firm occupies a similar tier to Linklaters for large institutional clients but has a slightly broader commercial practice that makes it more accessible for well-funded scale-ups.


Burges Salmon is the standout choice for UK fund tokenisation work specifically. Partners Brandon Wong and Jamie Howarth have produced the most detailed analysis of the fund tokenisation regulatory environment of any UK practice, including "A deeper dive on fund tokenisation in the UK" (published November 2025, ahead of the FCA's CP25/28 consultation deadline) and "Fund tokenisation: a step closer" (April 2025). The firm is an affiliate member of the Investment Association, giving it direct engagement with the industry bodies shaping the policy environment. Martin Cook leads on commercial relationships across the firm's technology and financial services client base.


Burges Salmon worked through the entire PS26/7 process with fund manager clients and has developed practical capability across regulated funds, private funds, fintech and crypto company advisory. Its client base spans investment fund managers, wealth management platforms, fintech businesses, crypto companies and startups. With a national presence and a London office, Burges Salmon is substantially more accessible to early and growth-stage businesses than the Magic Circle firms. It is the firm most founders working on UK-regulated tokenised fund structures should speak to first.


Bird & Bird has positioned tokenisation as a central chapter in its long-running practice of advising businesses through digital transformation. In January 2026 the firm published "UK Payments and Cryptoasset Regulatory Outlook 2026: What Firms Should Expect," one of the clearest forward-looking guides available to practitioners navigating the new regulated landscape.


The firm's credentials extend to the European level. Bird & Bird led the European Commission's European Blockchain Sandbox in consortium with OXYGY and Warren Brandeis across three cohorts of companies, publishing the final cohort's Best Practices Report in February 2026. That 230-page document covers over 20 regulatory areas across three years of cross-border regulatory dialogues with national competent authorities across Europe. It represents one of the most comprehensive records of live regulatory engagement with distributed ledger technology businesses published anywhere.


Bird & Bird brings deep technology law experience alongside financial services regulatory capability, making it particularly well-suited for platform builders, fintechs and infrastructure providers whose tokenisation work intersects with data, intellectual property and commercial contracting. Its client base skews towards technology businesses rather than purely financial institutions, which makes it a strong choice for smaller businesses and startups that need advice across a broader set of legal questions simultaneously.


Edwin Coe occupies a distinct and important position in the UK legal market for digital assets. The firm's Digital Assets and Emerging Technologies Group is a multi-disciplinary team spanning corporate, regulatory, disputes and commercial practice. Partner Laura Clatworthy leads the group alongside Alexandra Heron and a dedicated regulatory specialist with direct experience advising on cryptoasset structuring and FCA engagement.


The team advises across the full lifecycle of digital asset businesses, from formation and compliance through to disputes and enforcement.


Where the larger firms focus heavily on transactional and regulatory advisory work, Edwin Coe has developed particular strength in crypto disputes and investigations: claims arising from tokenisation failures, DeFi protocol collapses, DAO disputes, exchange failures and the forensic tracing of misused funds across blockchain networks. The firm has acted in proceedings relating to Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, NFT marketplace disputes, ETF liquidity and staking services for cryptoasset ETFs, and disputes involving MEV collective founders.


Edwin Coe is also notable for a sustained programme of roundtable events that bring together senior figures from across the finance sector to work through the practical and strategic questions emerging from the asset class.


Recent sessions have included "The Race to Tokenise: Who Will Own the Future of Finance?" (April 2026), attended by leading participants from asset management, banking and digital infrastructure; "Data as an Emerging Asset Class?" (December 2025), exploring how data rights are being structured alongside tokenised instruments; and a Digital Commerce Roundtable focused on agentic AI and its implications for financial services.


The firm shares the insights and analysis from these conversations openly, making them a useful knowledge resource for the wider market rather than closed internal events.


Crucially, Edwin Coe operates at a scale that makes it genuinely accessible to smaller businesses and founders who cannot support a Magic Circle retainer. For early-stage companies, startups and businesses without large corporate legal budgets, Edwin Coe represents one of the few UK firms that combines genuine digital assets depth with partner-level attention and commercial flexibility. It is one of the most relevant UK firms to engage for any business navigating crypto disputes, regulatory enforcement risk, or the structural questions that arise in early-stage tokenisation work.


The wider market

Beyond these five firms, several others are building credibility in the space. Freshfields has been active on FCA regulatory processes and recently published analysis of the new cryptoasset statutory instrument. Latham and Watkins, where Fiona Maclean leads on financial regulation in London, maintains a UK Cryptoasset Regulatory Tracker that has become a standard reference tool for market participants. Lewis Silkin and Travers Smith have both published detailed commentary on CP26/13, the FCA's perimeter guidance consultation that closes on 3 June 2026. Hogan Lovells, where John Salmon heads the financial institutions regulatory practice, and Mishcon de Reya, whose digital assets team includes Nathanael Lim and Charlotte Wilson, are also active in the space. gunnercooke's James Burnie has built a technology and digital assets practice that is attracting attention from earlier-stage businesses seeking specialist advice without full-service firm pricing.


What this means as the gateway approaches

The FCA's application window for cryptoasset authorisation opens on 30 September 2026, running through to 28 February 2027. Final perimeter guidance is expected in September. Businesses that need FCA authorisation to operate under the new regime should be identifying legal counsel now rather than waiting until the window opens.


The complexity of the new regime is substantial. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 brings seven new categories of regulated activity, each with distinct perimeter questions, capital requirements and governance obligations.


Getting the legal analysis right from the outset materially affects the outcome of an application and the viability of the business model sitting beneath it.

For founders building platforms, for investors structuring tokenised vehicles, and for businesses navigating disputes in a rapidly evolving asset class, the UK legal market now has genuine depth. The key is matching the right firm to the scale and nature of the work.


Key Takeaways

  • Linklaters and Ashurst are the first-choice firms for large institutional transactions and complex cross-jurisdictional digital securities work. Ashurst's Etay Katz sits on the FCA Innovation Advisory Group

  • Burges Salmon leads on UK fund tokenisation specifically; Brandon Wong and Jamie Howarth are the authors to follow for the most detailed UK regulatory analysis

  • Bird & Bird is the strongest choice for technology platform builders and fintechs with multi-disciplinary legal needs; the firm led the European Blockchain Sandbox across three full cohorts

  • Edwin Coe combines genuine digital assets depth in disputes, regulatory and corporate work with real accessibility for businesses without large corporate legal budgets; Laura Clatworthy's team runs the most active roundtable programme in the UK digital assets legal market

  • The FCA authorisation gateway opens September 2026, making early legal engagement essential for any business operating within the new regulated perimeter



Note:

This content is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The firms featured represent a selection of active players in this space and is not exhaustive. Many other law firms operate in the tokenisation and RWA sector. Inclusion does not imply endorsement, and omission does not imply unsuitability.



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