Appleby Advises Blockchain.com on Its Successful Cayman VASP Licence
Appleby, Cayman counsel to the Blockchain.com group, has advised Blockchain.com on its successful grant of a virtual asset service provider (VASP) licence through its Cayman Islands subsidiary. Blockchain.com’s licence is only the fifth VASP licence issued by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA).
Working closely with the Blockchain.com team since November 2025, Appleby has advised Blockchain.com on its successful grant of a virtual asset service provider (VASP) licence under the Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act, as revised (the “VASP Act”) through its Cayman Islands subsidiary, Blockchain (Cayman) Limited. The project was led by partner Peter Colegate and counsel Marsha Williamson with support from the broader Technology & Innovation team. With the licence now in place, Blockchain.com offers a suite of custody and staking products to institutional and retail customers.
Peter Colegate commented: “We are delighted to support the excellent Blockchain.com team on this major milestone and their continued growth and success in Cayman and beyond. We have now advised on two of the five successful VASP licences in Cayman – a real testament to our team’s expertise, understanding of the VASP application process and working relationship with CIMA.”
Further details are available here.
The phase 2 licensing regime under the VASP Act came into force on 1 April 2025 requiring all new applicants and existing VASP registrants to obtain a virtual asset service licence to provide virtual asset custody services and/or operate a virtual asset trading platform in or from the Cayman Islands.
Our Technology & Innovation practice
Our Technology & Innovation team in the Cayman Islands is a full-service technology practice, spanning corporate, commercial, regulatory, intellectual property and data protection. Our clients include Tech Giants, digital asset platforms, telecoms and satellite providers, software companies, fintechs and technology investors.
Our team is ranked Band 1 for both FinTech and Corporate & Finance in the Chambers Global Legal Guide – Cayman Islands. We work with first-time founders through to some of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, issuers and custodians. We also work with crypto-focussed investment funds and other investors across their digital assets investments and tokenised fund projects.
We regularly advise businesses on the regulatory scope of the virtual assets and securities regimes and potential exemptions, steering clients through the CIMA application process and their ongoing regulatory obligations.
Alongside regulatory advice, we support with initial structuring, entity formation, establishing by-laws and governance structures, token launches and other fundraising and investments, services agreements, software development and IP licensing arrangements. Our team also advises on a broad range of corporate transactions involving digital assets, including venture capital and private equity investments, private mergers and acquisitions as well as IPOs, SPAC and de-SPAC transactions.
