Citywealth’s Crypto Editorial Board

Date: 11 May 2022

Karen Jones

The Citywealth Crypto Editorial Board provides guidance and direction to our editorial team. Convening twice a year – virtually – the board discusses the latest trends and innovation in the wealth management and private client industries, with a focus on Crypto.

Charles Kerrigan, Partner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP (chair), UK

Charles Kerrigan

Charlie is a lawyer working in finance and emerging technology with specialisms in AI, crypto and DeFi.  He advises businesses, protocols, policymakers, and governments.

He is an Advisor to Cointelligence Fund; a Board Advisor to Holistic AI; an Advisory Board Member of the Investment Association’s Engine; and an Advisory Board Member of the UK APPGs on AI and Blockchain.

He is co-author and editor of AI Law and Regulation (Edward Elgar, 2022) and author of The Financing of Intangible Assets, TMT Finance and Emerging Technologies (Butterworths, 2019).

Sean Kiernan, Founder & CEO, Greengage Global Holding, UK

Sean Kiernan

Sean Kiernan is the Founder and CEO of Greengage. He has extensive experience in financial services, having worked in various executive management positions. He founded Greengage after working at the first bank in the world to offer crypto products to clients, Falcon Private Bank, where he served as the COO and Interim CEO of the London operation until leaving to establish Greengage.

Prior to that he held management positions at Clariden Leu, a division of Credit Suisse, and Zurich Financial Services. Mr Kiernan has an MBA from the University of St. Gallen and a BSc from Georgetown University.

Ash Costello, Consultant, Author, Lawyer, Ireland

Ash Costello

Ash Costello is a lawyer who advises on financial services law, privacy and blockchain. She is the Co-Chair of the Privacy Working Group for the International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA). 

She is also a Member of the Expert Panel of EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum and co-authors their reports and workshops on topics such as  non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs,) Smart Contracts, Smart Legal Contracts, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), and privacy. Her previous roles include membership of the Technical Committee and the Standards Committee of the Baseline Protocol (a venture between Consensys, Ethereum and Oasis among others); Global Head of Legal for MUFG Investor Services and private practice in London law firms. 

Lyle Wraxall, Chief Executive of Digital Isle of Man 

Lyle Wraxall

Lyle is the Chief Executive of Digital Isle of Man overseeing the growth of diverse sectors that form part of the Isle of Man’s digital economy spanning  eGaming, esports, Fintech, blockchain, IoT, technology and innovation. He is responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to support sustainable economic growth and establishing the Island as a centre of international excellence for the digital economy through public/private partnership.

Prior to his current role Lyle has worked extensively with large private sector and public sector clients in London and America including RBS, Deutsche Bank, IMF, US Federal Reserve and UK Cabinet Office. He is a highly experienced management and technology consultant who has worked across the whole digital and fintech space. Most recently he was Head of the New York office for Pcubed – a significant international management consultancy practice with offices around the world.

Tony Moretta, CEO, Digital Jersey, Channel Islands

Tony Moretta

Tony has over 20 years of senior management experience across a wide range of digital industries, including mobile, online, broadcast, payments, advertising and data analytics, using the latest technological innovations to develop new revenue streams.

Tony began his career at NatWest on the graduate training programme, going on to spend 7 years there and rising to Senior Manager of Commercial Development in their cards business. He went on to work for Visa Europe as Vice President of New Products, where he developed a number of new electronic payment products. He took this interest in innovation to ITV Digital where he was Director of Interactivity, followed by senior positions at the National Grid Wireless and Digital Radio UK, where he increased digital radio sales from 5 million to 11 million in testing market conditions and persuaded the car industry to standardise it in all new models.

Sasha Kazantseva-MIller, Deputy of the States of Guernsey, Digital Guernsey, Channel Islands

Sasha Kazantseva-MIller

Sasha is a Deputy of the States of Guernsey parliament elected in 2020 and a member of the Committee for Economic Development. She leads on Digital, Skills and Entrepreneurship policy development, chairs Digital Guernsey and is the co-chair of Skills Guernsey.

Sasha’s career started in FMCG marketing and quickly moved into technology working for Google and Agoda. She has been actively involved with all aspects of the startup cycle as an investor, co-founder, advisor and Non-Executive Director. She became interested in public office through her efforts to promote sustainable development and innovation. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and has lived and worked in Singapore, Bangkok, London,  Spain, Moscow, Madrid, Guernsey and Ulaan Bataar. 

Steven Rees Davies, Partner, Carey Olsen, Bermuda 

Steven Rees Davies

Steven’s practice covers a broad spectrum of corporate law with specific depth and experience in corporate governance, finance, securities, M&A and restructuring. A recognised specialist in the fintech and digital asset sector, Steven worked with the Bermuda government in the introduction and development of its digital asset legal and regulatory regime, and represents a significant number of digital asset companies headquartered, or with operations, in Bermuda. He also has particular expertise in the wider technology, telecommunications and energy sectors.

Steven represents clients on a wide variety of local and cross-jurisdictional corporate and regulatory transactions and restructurings as well as public offerings, private placements and listings on the Bermuda, New York and London stock exchanges. He also advises on complex multinational joint ventures and private equity projects.

Zoe Wyatt, Partner, Head of Crypto & Digital Assets, Andersen, London

Zoe Wyatt

Zoe is a Partner and Head of Crypto & Digital Assets at Andersen in the United Kingdom. Specialising in international tax, she develops the blue-print solution to her clients’ cross-border needs.

Zoe advises on the corporate tax issues of UK and overseas business lifecycle events as well as the associated personal tax considerations for the shareholders. She advises on: alternative investments, mergers acquisitions and disposals, corporate restructuring, supply chain structuring, ownership and exploitation of IP, international expansion, double taxation agreements, OECD multilateral instruments and anti tax avoidance (diverted profits tax, anti-hybrid, corporate interest restriction, controlled foreign companies).

Harumi Urata-Thompson, founder and CEO of HUT Consulting, New York

Harumi Urata-Thompson

Harumi Urata-Thompson is founder and CEO of HUT Consulting. She specializes in leading and advising companies on taking innovative paths to achieve strategic, operational and marketing success in their businesses. She is an experienced executive running Web3 companies. Currently, she is consulting to and serving as advisor to several companies. In addition, she acts as mentor to a number of people and speaks at numerous events. Subjects include Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Cybersecurity, Outerspace, Cross-border Business, and Diversity and Inclusion. 

Harumi has an MBA from INSEAD and a BA, magna cum laude, in business from Sophia University in Japan. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst, Project Management Professional certified, an Advanced Communicator and Leader of Toastmasters, and bilingual in English and Japanese. Harumi has traveled extensively, plays piano, keenly follows performing arts.

Andrew Pedvis, CFA, founder of Digital Securities Consulting LLC

Andrew Pedvis

Andrew Pedvis, CFA, is the founder of Digital Securities Consulting LLC, guiding established and early stage firms in setting product strategy, forming partnerships, and preparing to raise capital within the blockchain and digital asset spaces.  Andrew has over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector and has been consulting in the blockchain arena for the last six years.

Prior to founding Digital Securities Consulting, Andrew led the global product management group at S&P Global Ratings that was responsible for building and maintaining portfolio surveillance systems; natural language processing tools; content management platforms; and workflow systems. Andrew has also held leadership roles in Structured Finance; Credit Risk Advisory; Fixed Income Indices; and Capital Markets Research.

Andrew is a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from McGill University.

James Ramsden KC, Partner, Astraea Group

James Ramsden KC

James Ramsden KC has an expansive international practice in commercial dispute resolution, regulatory, disciplinary, media, sports and public law serving a diverse clientele of City, corporate, governmental and regulatory clients. He is recognised by Chambers UK and Chambers Global as a leading King’s Counsel (KC) in commercial dispute resolution and civil fraud, described as “an absolute star” and “a totally dedicated and stellar leader”. He is a committed and versatile advocate who is known for leading cohesive and effective teams in complex and often time-constrained assignments. James has been admitted to or advised in multiple jurisdictions including, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, US, Russia, Ukraine, Iceland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Uruguay, Australia, BVI, Jersey & Isle of Man. He was recently admitted to the Cayman Bar. James lectures widely on Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF), fraud and asset recovery and is author and contributing editor for the authoritative practitioner’s reference, Butterworths’ Financial Regulation Service. James is registered and qualified as a Public Access Barrister and is able to receive instructions directly from clients.

Charlotte Hill, Partner, Penningtons Manches Cooper

Charlotte Hill

Charlotte, a Partner in PMC’s London office, is an experienced commercial litigator and has been awarded the ‘Rising Star’ accolade in The Legal 500 on six occasions between 2021 and 2023. She is recognised as being ‘tenacious’, ‘a real force of nature’, and an ‘opponent-whisperer’, and is said to be ‘brilliant at case management and marshalling evidence’ with ‘a particular talent for sniffing out the best pieces of evidence in a case’.

She advises on a broad range of complex, high-value cross-border disputes across a number of commercial and business sectors, including financial services (having previously been on secondment at a large institutional bank), company disputes, corporate insolvency and civil fraud. She has specialist expertise in digital assets where she advises clients about cryptocurrencies, NFTs and blockchain disputes, and she recently acted in one of the very few contested cryptocurrency disputes which resulted in a successful outcome for her client. In 2023, Charlotte won the esteemed title of  ‘Woman of the Year – FinTech/Crypto Innovation – UK’ at the Citywealth Powerwomen Awards, for the impact of her work in the sector.

Charlotte sits on the Law Society Council on behalf of civil litigators (non-personal injury) and is a committee member of the London Solicitor Litigation Association, having formerly spent two years as the elected President of the Junior LSLA. She is also the chair of EMEA for Multilaw’s Young Lawyers Group, as well as a committee member of the Cyber Insurance Association, and a steering committee member of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations.