Hank Balaban

hank.balaban@lw.com

+1.202.637.2200

Profile

Hank Balaban, a member of the Digital Assets & Web3 and Emerging Companies & Growth practices, advises cryptocurrency and Web3 companies across their life cycles.

Hank counsels clients in connection with:

General corporate matters
Financings
Token launches
Entity structuring and DAO formation
Product counseling
A variety of regulatory matters, including securities laws compliance obligations and related strategic considerations

In addition, he advises a number of the leading venture capital firms on matters involving financings and token rights and distributions.

Hank also advises growth-stage companies in various industries, including software, fintech, and artificial intelligence, throughout their life cycles.

Experience

Hank’s experience includes advising:

Nouns DAO on the launch of its Decentralized Unincorporated Non-profit Association under Wyoming law
A major cryptocurrency exchange with regulatory efforts and outreach
A major staking-as-a-service provider in regulatory efforts and submissions to the SEC
Union Square Ventures in its investment into a decentralized physical infrastructure protocol
A major L2 blockchain protocol in the public launch of its token
The development company of a consumer web3 protocol in its Series B financing round totaling US$50 million
Magic Labs in the public launch of the NEWT token
A leading web3 venture capital firm with respect to early-stage investments in blockchain companies
Founders Fund with respect to early-stage investments in blockchain companies

Qualifications

Bar Qualification

District of Columbia

Education

JD, Georgetown University Law Center, 2023
cum laude
BA in History, Dartmouth College, 2016

Practices

Emerging Companies & Growth

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

October 14, 2025 Blog

SEC Staff Issues No-Action Letter for DePIN Token Distributions

The first of what may be a series of crypto no-action letters supports the view that programmatic token distributions serving as network incentives are not securities.