Legal Counsel - Regulatory

Copper is a digital asset technology company dedicated to helping institutional investors safely acquire, trade, and store crypto assets.

Built and led by Dmitry Tokarev, a software and financial engineering specialist, the firm provides a comprehensive suite of custody, trading and settlement solutions that reduce counterparty risk and bring greater capital and operational efficiency to digital asset markets. At the heart of Copper's offering is Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology – the gold standard in secure custody. Copper’s multi-award winning custody system is unique in that it can be connected to centralised exchanges, DeFi applications and even staking pools without the assets leaving the custody.

Built on top of this state-of-the-art custody, ClearLoop is the first solution in the market that overcomes a growing industry challenge; counterparty risk with exchanges. This solution underpins a full prime services offering, connecting global exchanges and enabling customers to trade and settle directly from the safety of their MPC-secured wallets. By reducing settlement time for transfers to a few milliseconds (without blockchain network dependency) and offering enhanced security measures, ClearLoop is rapidly reshaping the way asset managers trade and manage capital.

In addition to industry-leading security certifications, Copper has one of the strongest insurance coverages in the industry from an A+ rated insurer, positioning the firm as the partner of choice for institutions seeking to safeguard their assets.

Department environment

The Copper legal team is a collaborative and high energy group of smart, driven and intellectually curious lawyers and paralegals. We take our work but not ourselves incredibly seriously, tackling novel issues and supporting the business with focus, precision, and relentless good humour. We know and support each other deeply as professionals and humans. We proudly hold a range of passports and qualifications and speak as many languages as we have team members - diversity on all levels is deeply valued.

Our business is growing rapidly, both in terms of new people and new or enhanced products, and as a key support function the legal team has and continues to expand in a complimentary way. We need expert lawyers advising within their specialist areas, and for this reason we broadly break the team down into Product and Enterprise (including Commercial), Corporate and Regulatory. As we expand globally as a company, we are adding regional experts to help advise on the nuances of local legal and compliance regimes.

Key Responsibilities of the role

Working from our Zug office with the option to partially work remotely, you will be advising Copper’s executive teams, stakeholders in the business and the international Legal and Compliance teams in Switzerland, Europe and the Middle East on a broad range of legal and regulatory matters. You will support license application processes, engage with regulators and advise the management of our regulated businesses on governance and regulatory requirements. Your work will be focused on the intersection of banking/financial services regulation, institutional crypto asset markets and tokenisation. In this capacity, you will help the Product and Product Legal Team to design and roll out market leading and regulatory compliant products and services.

• Advise the business and the Compliance Team on all legal matters with a particular focus on Swiss and EU regulatory law
• Support our regulated entities in establishing, maintaining and further developing their operating models and policy frameworks in compliance with rapidly changing regulatory requirements
• Draft and manage new and ongoing license applications to support our international growth strategy
• Partner the Product Team to advise on new products and services and their compliance with regulatory requirements
• Work with external counsel as and when required, including managing legal spend and invoices
• Support with the development of trainee solicitors and paralegals

Your experience, skills and knowledge

• Swiss or EU qualified lawyer, solicitor, or barrister in a common law jurisdiction
• Post-qualification experience – either in-house or at a law firm
• Knowledge of banking and financial services regulation, e.g. Swiss Banking Act, FinSA, FIDLEG, AMLA, 5AMLD, MiFID II, CRR, CRD, PSD II or MiCA.
• Ability to manage transactions and projects and awareness as to when to escalate issues to senior members of team
• Keep up-to-speed with developments in the law and regulation relevant to the role and sharing knowhow as appropriate within the Legal team
• Exceptional drafting skills and attention to detail alongside effective written and oral communication

The benefits offered

In return for everything you can bring to Copper, we can offer you an exciting, challenging role in a fast-growing and dynamic business, with career opportunities and welcoming working environment.

If you think you have everything we're looking for and more, then we'd love you to apply for the opportunity.

Copper is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and equal opportunities in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. So, bring us your experience, perspectives, and skills. It is in our differences that we will continue to grow and ensure Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets. Copper is a Disability Confident Employer, please let us know if you have a disability. If you require us to provide any assistance during the recruitment process, then we would ask you to highlight this to us and we will be happy to accommodate.