Jonathan is chair of Harris Sliwoski’s corporate practice group, where he helps public and private companies with international and domestic business transactions. His clientele includes companies from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Jonathan has worked and consulted in the U.S., Asia, and South America and is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese.
He is an emerging blockchain legal expert and enjoys developing international legal strategies with promising web3 projects.
With the SEC v. Ripple decision emerging recently, many commentators (see here and here) have focused on the holding of the case, which is the correct place to start. This post focuses on the holding, plus additional matters discussed in the decision and additional insights gleaned from the rest of the decision. Foundational Facts of
Recently, two Harris Sliwoski attorneys, Jonathan Bench and Akshat Divatia, presented this webinar for international companies interested in entering the U.S. market. General U.S. Business Portion Jonathan Bench, Chair of the International Transactions Group, led the general business portion of the webinar. He began by discussing the pros and cons of establishing a venture in
With Web3 on the horizon and digital transformation in the air, blockchain technologies like smart contracts are becoming more common in business processes. Every company should be asking how can you incorporate these technologies into your business model. For context, a smart contract is a self-enforcing piece of code that exists on a blockchain and
Even with some high-profile enforcement actions and general mayhem in the blockchain industry (see here and here), many founders continue to build their projects, gain traction in the market, and receive funding. We know this because we speak with many such entrepreneurs every week. Below is an excerpt from an email I recently sent to
If you have been following the news around Web3 lately, you may have heard of smart contracts. They are used in a wide variety of decentralized digital transactions, including NFT sales, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and decentralized applications (dApps). Because smart contracts can relieve some of the hassle involved with traditional contracts, many businesses are
If you’ve paid any attention at all to news about Web3, the metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or cryptocurrency, you’ve probably heard of smart contracts. You’re also probably intrigued by how they work from a legal perspective and what they could mean for the future of your business. Smart contracts are a foundational element of Web3,
Discover the secrets to expanding your business into Europe via Spain! Join us on April 25, 2023, at 10:30 AM at World Trade Center Utah headquarters for an exclusive discussion with industry experts from international law firms Monereo Meyer Abogados (Spain) and Harris Sliwoski (US), and Red Points, the fastest-growing revenue recovery company in the
Today’s internet looks radically different from the static HTML pages of the 1990s, and it’s still evolving. New words like “Metaverse” and “Bitcoin” are now mainstream, and many speculate a new digital revolution is underway. Enter Web 3.0. What Is Web3? Web3 is a decentralized future version of the internet characterized by technology trends like
Businesses looking to get into the non-fungible token (NFT) space have a chance to reap some serious profit if they do it right. Rare NFTs can sell for tens of millions of dollars. In 2021, The Merge sold for $91.8 million on Nifty Gateway, making it the most expensive NFT to date. However, due to
In late 2022, Harris Sliwoski attorney, Jonathan Bench (Utah, USA), met with Olayimika Oyebanji, a DAO legal expert from Nigeria. The two lawyers talked about their early blockchain project experiences, DAOs and DAO projects on which they have worked, and the Web3 legal industry as a whole. Olayimika also provided unique insights into blockchain developments
