Margaux Frisque

With inimitable expertise in litigation applied to the blockchain and digital assets sector, Margaux Frisque assists her clients in complex and high-stakes litigation and also advises them on the implementation of sensitive and strategic contracts required for their activities.

In 2019, Margaux rose to prominence  by assisting one of her clients in obtaining the first approval (visa) from the French Financial Markets Authority for a public offering of tokens (ICO). She continued on this path by advising numerous tech companies in setting up strategic contracts and drafting general terms and conditions of sale and use (CGUV) for centralized (CeFi) or decentralized (DeFi) projects.

Margaux also has recognized experience in managing litigation applied to blockchain before civil and commercial courts: shareholder disputes, breach and non-performance of contracts, unfair competition, mass litigation involving consumers.

In particular, she assists clients both in regulatory litigation matters (e.g. French authorities inspections, etc.) and before the criminal courts (e.g. crypto-asset fraud).

In particular, she has advised:

• a foreign company specialised in crypto-asset ‘staking’ in the context of a cross-border dispute;
• digital asset service providers as part of on-site inspections;
• a French company facing a claim in the context of a public offering of utility tokens (ICO) relating to distribution of tokens to investors;
• investors who handed over crypto-assets to a specialised service provider, which did not achieved the promised returns nor repay the funds entrusted to it;
• a foreign company that managed crypto-assets on behalf of third parties and experienced force majeure events during the execution of the management contract, leading to the loss of part of the crypto-assets;
• the majority shareholders of a Web3 company in a dispute with a minority partner over the value of the shares and the terms of the minority partner’s exit. 

Having been a lecturer in corporate law at the University of Aix-Marseille, Margaux is currently a lecturer on the regulatory issues regarding blockchain technology at major French companies and universities (HEAD Paris, Universities of Rennes, Lille, Aix-Marseille).

Margaux is a member of the Legal Committee of the Association for the Development of Digital Assets (ADAN) and ranked among the most influential French lawyers in the field of blockchain in Décideurs Magazine: Classement “Incontournable” – Blockchain – Leaders Leagues and Classement “Pratique réputée” – Commercial Litigation – Leaders Leagues.

Areas of expertise :

• Commercial law
• Consumer law
• Pre-litigation & crisis management
• Litigation applied to corporate law
• Crypto-asset litigation
• Regulatory litigation
• Business criminal law
• Arbitration & Mediation
• IP IT litigation
• Personal data protection