BVI looking for a good law firm for ICO

[ZipZop]

(I am sorry I posted the same in the Crypto forum and realized it was not the right place. how to I delete the other post?)

Hi guys,

For an ICO which will happen in April 2024 (platform 90% ready, whitepaper ready) I need to set up a company in BVI, is anyone has any experience in this field and in this jurisdiction?

a few basic questions such as:

- Difficulty of the process?
- Timeframe?
- banking (for the FIAT part)?
- we'll be on binance/kraken,etc.. 8 months after the launch (pre approved already). I'm looking for other ICO which were done in the BVI and also listed on those exchanges?
- structure recommendation (direct shareholding between the partners, holding in another jurisdiction. etc)?


the main question would be: Do you know a local or international with local expertise law firm specialized in ICO in BVI?

for obvious reasons I won't present the cryptocurrency we are launching here. happy to do it once we are fully structured.

we are not looking for investors, actually we didn't follow the "right order" and made the plateform, whitepaper, etc. and received financial commitments before having a company.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

cheers

 

[Sols]

Speak with Appleby.

 

[fintechwizard]

i've done listings on major exchanges (Binance, Kucoin, MEXC,...) and for them the jurisdiction has‌ low importance (BVI is OK), however i would recommend the structure to be transparent as‍ they will look into UBOs.
I do not really think you need a law firm⁠ with experience in ICO, you just need a standard company incorporation.
The banking part will⁤ be tricky, but again, for a legit project, finding serious banking in Switzerland for BVI⁣ crypto company is possible.

 

[ZipZop]

ok thanks for your answer. yes⁢ we'll be transparent, nothing to hide, it's not a shitcoin.
any suggestions for banks? Switzerland︀ may be too difficult, even Sygnum,etc. is there any good banks in BVI or any︁ country which accept crypto companies? worst case I'll set up another company which will hold︂ the IP of the crypto one

 

[EliasIT]

Why do you find Switzerland to be to difficult? If you have a solid budget‌ to setup your coin and it's real not to scam other people it may be‍ one of the best places to do, also more trust in it.

 

[JackAlabama]

Hawk tuah‍ frens!
That is the real issue here as its the underlying motive in most "coins"⁠ especially in the year of 2025 and after many million of coins appeared and disappeared⁤ in like the 10 years past.

 

[EliasIT]

I generally assume that no one sets up a coin with the intention to scam,‌ especially if they do so in a well-regulated country. This thread is mostly about where‍ OP can establish this business; the other aspects were discussed in another thread that ended⁠ up getting derailed.

 

[Wellington]

Well, what i︆ can say is under BVI law they've not introduced laws around ICO's yet / regulations,︇ so basically if you do it there, you'll have no corporate veil and they will︈ destroy your brand by giving warnings etc.

I've had extensive discussions with the Regulator/FCA there︉ previously

Seychelles you can do but you need to get licensed now.

One place you︊ can get away with it without trying to comply with is Belize and another Panama.︋

 

[ZipZop]

It's clearly a coin to stay with collateral etc. Switzerland , that we know very‌ well, is not an option for now as it will take too long with Finma,‍ etc. But we keep the possibility to move the company or establish a regulated branch⁠ afterwards there. For now, as we did everything in the wrong order, I need a⁤ quick and legal solution, BVI seems to be the best for that. We have multiple⁣ marketing events so I need an entity. Of course the countries where we will do⁢ the live events will be duly selected in order for the events to be fully︀ compliant. Let's keep the debate on the BVI , for recommendation of good law firms︁ (I take the Appleby recommendation), banks, service providers, etc.. only alternative would be Cayman islands︂ but the process seems to be a bit longer.

 

[Wellington]

I just told you BVI is a no-go zone.

 

[dany]

OP you should‍ listen to some of the advise here

 

[ZipZop]

I appreciate your advises, this is actually the reason why I posted here.
but let‌ me defend my case. I made a "pre"study before choosing BVI. this is also mostly‍ based on the facts that I don't want to reinvent something that already exist. Since⁠ I posted I had also the opportunity to speak to five different law firms with⁤ experience in this field and jurisdiction. most of them doing that in other jurisdictions also.⁣

I also checked the "famous" crypto launches or projects in the area and without the⁢ usual scandal (exception made for the Telegram coin "Gram" as the SEC issue was not︀ linked to the ICO per se), to give a few examples we have: APE, Linch︁ Dex, SushiSwap, WOrldCoin, Pollen, Polygon,etc.. which are in those jurisdiction.

I am still doing my︂ homework looking for the best structure. For now I have the following structure in mind:︃

1) Cayman Foundation (it's one of the only jurisdiction where you do not need a︄ beneficiaries or founders, it's what we called an "Orphan" foundation, with only "Purposes") which will︅ own 100% of the SPV
2)SPV in BVI which will launch the Token via SAFT︆ or other kind of sales. the proceed will go to the foundation as grants or︇ dividends. this SPV will allow to manage the "cash" in crypto (USDT mostly)
3) a︈ DevCo in BVI which will have a service agreement with the foundation as well as︉ IP agreements and similar agreements. which will have the full dev team and will have︊ FIAT bank accounts, etc.

I don't say I'm right and you are wrong. but I︋ really take example of what is working quite well for other well-knows keyplayers.

I like︌ the foundation in the middle as it gives more insurance to the coin holders as︍ it removes the "Ownership" part.

 

[Mary P]

Timeline: 2-4 working︆ days
Requirements:
3 variants of the company name
Company business model description
Directors’ and shareholders'︇ personal data
Directors’ and shareholders' documents