Anika advises banks, financial-services institutions and investment firms, investment-fund managers and depositaries, institutional investors, FinTech companies as well as stock exchanges and multilateral trading venues, in particular on regulatory issues as well as matters of compliance and money laundering. Anika specializes in distributed-ledger-technology-(DLT-)based business models and regulatory issues surrounding the issuance, trading, staking, lending and custody of crypto assets, including security token offerings (STOs), stablecoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as in centralized and decentralized exchanges for crypto assets and decentralized-finance protocols.
Anika has been recognized by Legal 500 Germany as a rising star in FinTech.
Education and Career
Anika studied law at Humboldt University of Berlin, where she also received her doctorate in 2015. Her practical legal training at the Berlin Higher Regional Court included stints with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance and with the European Commission (Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union – FISMA) in Brussels. After that, Anika worked at Berlin-based law firm lindenpartners (including a secondment to Solarisbank AG and its subsidiary, Solaris Digital Assets GmbH) and as in-house counsel for Börse Stuttgart Digital Exchange. Prior to joining YPOG, Anika was a Senior Associate at Eversheds Sutherland in the team led by Dr. Carola Rathke.
Experience
Anika’s recent work highlights include advising:
- several banks and financial service providers in the context of authorization procedures with Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for the trading and custody of crypto assets
- an international crypto custodian on market entry in the EU
- an international provider of trading and custody for crypto assets on the coordination of registration procedures as a crypto asset service provider in various EU states
- a German crypto custodian on entering into outsourcing partnerships and providing crypto-custody services for banks entering the crypto-assets market
- a major international crypto exchange on the legal aspects of using and providing services related to decentralized finance (DeFi), including evaluating ever-evolving use cases of DeFi applications such as lending, staking, liquidity mining, etc.
- a German custodian on the regulatory requirements for the custody of crypto assets for alternative investment funds (AIF)
* not a partner within the meaning of the German Partnership Company Act (Partnerschaftsgesellschaftsgesetz – PartGG)
Qualifications
- German qualified attorney (Rechtsanwältin)
- Ph.D. in law (Dr. iur.) (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Languages
- German
- English
- French
- E-Money Tokens, Stablecoins and Token Payment Services
in: Maume/Maute/Fromberger, The Law of Crypto Assets, § 9, C.H. Beck 2022 publishing house (with Jan Wettlaufer) - Tokens and token business models under the law regarding payment services
in: Maume/Maute, Legal Handbook Crypto Assets, § 13, C.H. Beck / Vahlen publishing houses 2022 (with Jan Wettlaufer) [in German] - Art. 24–27 Regulation on Markets in Financial Instruments – MiFiR (Title IV: Transaction Reporting)
in: Seibt/Buck-Heeb/Harnos (eds.) – BeckOK [online commentary] Securities Trading Law, since 2021 [in German] - Overview of the regulation of crypto assets and crypto-asset providers
BKR [Journal of Banking Law and Capital Markets Law] 2021, pp. 725–739 [in German] - Second advisory letter [by Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)] regarding the obligations to publish a prospectus and to seek authorization in connection with the issuance of crypto tokens
RdF [The Law on Financial Instruments] 2019, pp. 298–305 (with Eric Romba) [in German] - Trading platforms for crypto currencies and crypto assets
BKR 2019, pp. 435–443 [in German] - Current developments regarding the tokenization of real assets
Fonds-Zeitung [Funds Journal] 2019, issue 2 (with Eric Romba) [in German] - Corporate financing by way of tokens
REthinking: Law 2019, p. 28 (with Daniel Bögeholz) [in German] - Criminal liability for bitcoin trading – case note on Berlin Higher Regional Court ruling of 25 Sept. 2018
MMR [Multimedia and Law] 2018, pp. 828–832 [in German] - Macroprudential regulation at the wrong end – The German government’s draft Act Amending the Law on Financial Oversight
BKR 2017, pp. 144–151 (with Christina Griebeler) [in German] - Governmental oversight over financial instruments – An analysis from a comparative-law and legal-economic perspective on the establishment of substantive governmental oversight over financial instruments
Mohr Siebeck publishing house, Tübingen 2016 (dissertation) [in German] - Consumer status of a condominium owners’ association – case note on Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruling of 25 March 2015
EWeRK [Journal on Energy Law and Competition Law] 2015, pp. 196–205 [in German] - The interplay between depositories, appraisers, auditors and Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in the context of oversight of investments funds under the German Capital Investment Code (KAGB) – jurisdiction regarding the monitoring of compliance with valuation standards and procedures for assets held by AIF and UCITS
BKR 2015, pp. 193–205 [in German] - Supplementary construction of contract regarding a supplier’s right to adjust prices in the context of a long-standing gas-supply contract – case note on Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruling of 3 Dec. 2014
EWeRK 2015, pp. 13–18 [in German] - Implicit acceptance of a real offer on the part of an energy-supply company regarding supply by way of abstraction of energy by the holder of effective power of disposal – case note on Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruling of 2 July 2014 and 22 July 2014
EWeRK 2014, pp. 375–382 [in German] - Oil-price maintenance under a contract to supply gas: substantive review of the price-adjustment clause used in commercial business transactions – case note on Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruling of 14 May 2014
EWeRK 2014, pp. 314–325 [in German] - Obligation on domestic open-ended funds to publish a sales prospectus – de facto a statutory obligation to publish a prospectus for open-ended special investment funds owing to the sales provisions of the German Capital Investment Code (KAGB)
BKR 2014, pp. 271–277 [in German]
Direct message to Dr. Anika Patz