Joseph A. Hall
Advises on digital assets, capital markets transactions and public company governance and reporting matters. Head of Corporate Governance. A 2024 Law360 “Fintech MVP.”
Joe is a member of our Capital Markets group and head of our interdisciplinary Corporate Governance practice.
Since 2014 Joe has advised numerous companies in the digital asset space. On behalf of Grayscale, Joe successfully challenged the SEC’s refusal to approve bitcoin ETFs, and today Grayscale’s GBTC is one of the largest bitcoin ETFs in the world. On behalf of Paxos, Joe was part of the Davis Polk team that successfully persuaded the SEC not to bring an enforcement action involving the stablecoin BUSD. Joe has testified before Congress on digital asset regulation and regularly speaks at crypto conferences.
In 2024, he was named a “Fintech MVP of the Year” by Law360.
Earlier in his career, Joe served as a member of SEC Chairman William Donaldson’s senior leadership team.
Experience
Selected Representations
- Galaxy corporate reorganization and Nasdaq listing
- Strategy $21 billion perpetual strike preferred stock at-the-market offering
- Strategy $723 million perpetual strife preferred stock offering
- Strategy $21 billion at-the-market offering
- Strategy $2 billion convertible notes offering
- Strategy $584 million convertible preferred stock offering
- Galaxy $402.5 million exchangeable senior notes offering
- Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF approval and $1.8 billion bitcoin seeding
- Grayscale Ethereum Trust approved as world’s largest Ether ETF
- Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF approval and seeding through Ether distribution
- Termination of SEC investigation of Paxos
- Visa Class B stockholder liquidity program and $100 billion exchange offer
- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust approved as world’s largest bitcoin ETF
- Clarivate $5.3 billion acquisition of ProQuest
- Galaxy Digital $1.2 billion acquisition of BitGo, U.S. domestication and listing
- Registration of shares of first-of-its-kind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
News
Recognition
IFLR1000 – Capital Markets (Debt, Equity), United States
Chambers FinTech - FinTech Legal: Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies
Law360 – “Fintech MVP of the Year,” 2024
Crain’s New York Business – “Notable LGBTQ Leaders,” 2022
American Crypto Association – Top 25 Crypto Lawyers, 2020
Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) – Capital Markets: Debt & Equity, Thought Leader
Education
- Charles Bathgate Beck Prize
- Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
- James Kent Scholar
- Notes and Comments Editor, Columbia Law Review
- with highest honors
Clerkships
Prior experience
- Managing Executive for Policy and Market Regulation Counsel for Chairman William H. Donaldson, Securities and Exchange Commission, 2003-2005
- Corporate Counsel, Reuters America, 1994-1996
Qualifications and admissions
- State of New York