Counsel for the digital-asset frontier.

Spanning eight years of exclusive practice in the cryptocurrency space, Rafael has extensive regulatory experience at the state and federal levels, including matters involving the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and countless state regulators. In addition to proactive or defensive regulatory work, Rafael advises a variety of startups including crypto exchange operators, token issuers, and DeFi protocol developers to help them navigate their legal obligations, mitigate risks, and focus on growing their businesses, disrupting existing regimes, or experimenting with censorship-resistant, immutable, decentralized technology.

Rafael has emerged as a leader in federal civil asset forfeiture proceedings involving cutting-edge legal issues unique to digital assets, recovering millions of dollars for crypto scam victims in precedent-setting matters across U.S. district courts. He currently represents hundreds of financial fraud victims in civil forfeiture actions nationwide, combining deep procedural command of federal forfeiture practice with hands-on blockchain forensics and on-chain tracing to identify, follow, and pursue recovery of stolen funds wherever they move.