Practice Areas
Yvette Valdez co-chairs the Global Digital Assets & Web3 Practice, as well as the Commodities and Derivatives Regulation & Enforcement Practice.
Yvette draws on more than two decades of derivatives regulatory and transactional experience to inform her cutting-edge advice to clients on digital assets, Web3, and bespoke financial regulatory matters. She advises a broad spectrum of clients, from leading global investment banks and broker-dealers to market makers across financial markets (including the Web3 and digital asset ecosystem). She helps clients navigate a range of high-stakes matters involving:
- Cryptocurrency custodian and prime brokerage businesses
- Crypto derivatives and spot trading
- Structuring complex digital assets
- Trading, clearing, and settlement solutions on distributed ledger technology
- Tokenization of real-world assets
Yvette helps clients mitigate the unique risks inherent in digital assets and innovative products and structures commodities and derivatives value transfers accordingly, resulting in an emerging set of market standards against a regulatory backdrop that includes:
- The Dodd-Frank Act
- The Commodity Exchange Act
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and prudential regulation
- Margining, clearing, and trade execution requirements
On the transactional front, she represents financial institutions in bespoke derivatives transactions, including:
- Digital asset derivatives
- Prediction markets
- Interest rate and credit derivatives
- Foreign exchange transactions
- Total return swaps
- Commodity transactions, futures, and options
As a thought leader, Yvette co-led the development of Latham’s US Crypto Policy Tracker. She speaks and writes frequently on issues at the intersection of financial markets and digital assets, including for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), the Futures Industry Association (FIA), DC Fintech Week, and the New York City Bar Association’s Crypto Institute.
