Mr. Payne helps financial services firms and crypto companies solve high stakes legal problems.  Financial services firms and crypto companies can face extreme regulatory pressure and litigation risk.  Managing those risks creates the legal certainty that shareholders, investors, partners and customers crave, enabling companies to unlock their full potential.

Through years of experience defending civil litigation and regulatory investigations, Mr. Payne understands what company leadership needs from outside counsel to protect their companies. Mr. Payne is a shareholder of the 2021 Securities Regulation Law Firm of the Year and handles all aspects of complex commercial litigation and enforcement actions, from pre-suit investigations and counseling to motions practice and discovery.

As a leader of the firm’s FinTech & Blockchain Practice Group, Mr. Payne also provides critical advice to companies of all stripes concerning the emergent regulatory structure surrounding cryptocurrencies and new applications built on blockchain technology.  With sophisticated legal counsel, crypto companies can exploit the opportunities presented by the current environment marked by regulatory uncertainty and widespread enforcement and litigation activity.

7 Legal Myths that Most Crypto Companies Believe (and why that could get them in trouble)

Practice Areas

• FinTech & Blockchain
• Regulatory Enforcement Defense
• Securities & Complex Commercial Litigation
• White Collar Defense, Investigations & Compliance Counseling

Awards and Recognition

• Lawyer of the Year and Nine Lawyers Recognized in Best Lawyers in America 2021
  (08/20/2020)
  
• Ten Murphy & McGonigle Listed in 2016 Super Lawyers
  (10/10/2016)
  

Publications

• OCC Approves First Crypto Bank
  Blockchain Law Center | (01/14/2021)
  
• FinCEN Proposes New Digital Asset Rules to Target Money Laundering
  Blockchain Law Center | (12/21/2020)
  
• What To Know About The First Wave Of CARES Act Litigation
  Law 360 | (10/15/2020)
  
• Federal Court Rules Kik Token Offering Violated Securities Laws
  Blockchain Law Center | (10/01/2020)
  
• Preparing For A CMBS Litigation Wave Amid COVID-19
  Law 360 | (09/01/2020)
  
• Analyzing the Pace of Blockchain Litigation in 2020
  Blockchain Law Center | (06/15/2020)
  
• Criminal Actions See Decreasing Share of Crypto Litigation Mix
  Blockchain Law Center | (06/03/2020)
  
• SEC Files More Crypto Enforcement Cases in 2019; Other Regulators Drop Off
  Blockchain Law Center | (05/26/2020)
  
• Crypto Litigation Mirrors the Price of Bitcoin
  Blockchain Law Center | (05/20/2020)
  
• The Importance of New Crypto Court Precedent
  Blockchain Law Center | (05/12/2020)
  
• Blockstack Examined: What the First Reg A+ Token Offering Looks Like
  (08/12/2019)
  
• AirFox Files Form 10 With the SEC On the Path to Compliance
  Blockchain Law Center | (03/25/2019)
  
• Six Trends Emerge in Murphy & McGonigle’s Newly Published “Blockchain Litigation: 2018 Year in Review Report”
  (02/07/2019)
  
• Blockchain Litigation Update: Federal Court Applies Web Precedents to Arbitration Row in Crypto Exchange Lawsuit
  Blockchain Law Center | (02/05/2019)
  
• The Year of the Crypto Investigation
  (08/27/2018)
  
• Is 2018 “The Year of the Crypto Investigation”?
  Law 360 | (08/23/2018)
  
• Media Report Allegations of Cryptocurrency Pump and Dump Schemes
  Blockchain Law Center | (08/06/2018)
  
• Cryptocurrency Investigations Mount
  Blockchain Law Center | (05/22/2018)
  
• Howey and Handle Bar Moustaches: Thoughts on the Oral Argument in U.S. v. Zaslavskiy Regarding Whether Initial Coin Offerings are Subject to the Securities Laws
  Blockchain Law Center | (05/10/2018)
  
• "Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative" Launched in New York
  Blockchain Law Center | (04/17/2018)
  
• Legal Issues Facing Cryptocurrencies Beginning to Take Shape
  Blockchain Law Center | (04/10/2018)
  
• The SEC is Investigating ICOs and Cryptocurrencies
  Blockchain Law Center | (02/27/2018)
  
• Litigation Trends in the Blockchain Industry
  Blockchain Law Center | (02/21/2018)
  
• Ernst & Young Report Highlights Need for ICO Planning
  Blockchain Law Center | (02/21/2018)
  
• SEC Enforcement Reminds Social Media Influencers Pushing ICOs and Other Investments to Comply with Federal Securities Laws
  (11/06/2017)
  

Seminars and Presentations

• CMBS Litigation Wave? The COVID-19 Fallout
  08/11/2020 | (08/05/2020)
  
• PPP Litigation Impacting SBA Lenders
  05/21/2020 | (06/02/2020)
  
• Economics of Blockchain Litigation: ICOs and Securities Laws, and Trends in Litigation
  04/29/2020 | (04/29/2020)
  
• How To Defend Against New Wave of Cryptocurrency Class Actions
  (04/24/2020)
  
• Murphy & McGonigle 2020 CLE Webinar: How to Defend Against New Wave of Cryptocurrency Class Actions
  04/23/2020 | (04/20/2020)
  
• “Trends in Blockchain Litigation,” PLI Briefing
  01/29/2020 | (01/29/2020)
  
• Blockchain Platforms & Strategies - Panel: Governance and regulation in Blockchain business networks, Blockchain EXPO North America 2018
  11/28/2018 - 11/29/2018 | (11/28/2018)
  
• Cryptolina 2018
  06/15/2018 - 06/16/2018 | (06/04/2018)
  

In the News

• The Most-Read Securities Law360 Guests Of 2020
  Law 360 | (12/24/2020)
  
• New York Leads the Pack in Incidence of Blockchain Litigation
  (01/22/2020)
  
• Daniel Payne Named to “Up & Coming Lawyers” List in Virginia
  (09/04/2019)
  
• Financial law firm launches first global crypto crimes database
  CoinGeek | (08/07/2019)
  
• Bitcoin Crime Search Engine Paves Way For A New Kind Of Law Firm
  Forbes | (08/05/2019)
  
• Chairman James Murphy Delivers Keynote at Blockchain Expo North America
  (12/04/2018)
  
• Murphy & McGonigle Co-Hosts the 2014 Richmond Crowdfunding Symposium
  05/13/2014 | (05/14/2014)
  

Education

• J.D., magna cum laude, University of Richmond School of Law, 2009
• B.A., Philosophy and Economics, magna cum laude, College of William & Mary, 2006

Admissions

• Virginia
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia