DLA Piper advises Galaxy on major crypto joint venture with DWS and Flow Traders

DLA Piper has advised blockchain specialist Galaxy on the planned formation of AllUnity, a new joint venture with Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary DWS and trading house Flow Traders. AllUnity will be an emerging infrastructure provider with the mission to issue a fully collateralized EUR-denominated stablecoin that is regulated by BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator. AllUnity’s longer-term focus will be to accelerate mass market adoption of digital assets and tokenization.

AllUnity’s partners comprise of three industry-leading firms with significant market reach and experience in developing and distributing leading financial products to investors in a regulatory-compliant manner. Hence, AllUnity will be well-positioned to deliver a leading regulated stablecoin for institutional, corporate, and private user adoption.

AllUnity is launching during a period of significant regulatory clarity in the digital assets space in the EU, following the newly established Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR). The introduction of MiCAR provides a harmonized legal framework for stablecoins and, with it, greater protection for all market participants.

The transaction and incorporation of AllUnity is subject to various conditions, including the receipt of the necessary approvals from BaFin and the competition authorities.

The international and multi-disciplinary DLA Piper team was led by client relationship partner Sebastian Decker with senior associate Dr Marcel Schmidt (both Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) in the core team. The team further comprised partners Éanna Mellett (Corporate/M&A, Dublin), Dr Caroline Herkströter (Finance/Regulatory, Frankfurt), Semin O (Antitrust, Frankfurt), Dr Konrad Rohde (Tax, Frankfurt), Maura Dineen (Tax, Dublin), James Williams (US Co-Chair, Blockchain, Digital Assets & Metaverse, Los Angeles), Kevin Glenn (Tax, New York), Dr Emanuel Ballo (Compliance/White Collar Crime, Frankfurt), senior counsel Dr Ute Brunner-Reumann (Finance/Regulatory, Frankfurt), of counsel Christopher Steelman (Government Affairs, Washington, DC), counsels Elena Vadolas (Finance/Regulatory, Frankfurt), Dr Enno Ahlenstiel (Antitrust, Cologne), senior associates Michael Tansley (Tax, Dublin), Pascal Hornstein (Tax, Frankfurt), Anna Lena Nowicki (Compliance/White Collar Crime, Frankfurt), Matthias Goumas (Arbitration, Hamburg) and the associates Caroline Huber (Antitrust, Frankfurt) and John Wei (Tax, Boston).