Obike Favour Obike Favour 22.02.2022

Gunnercooke Becomes First Major UK Law Firm to Accept Crypto Payments

Popular UK-based commercial and corporate law firm, Gunnercooke, recently announced that it has added support for crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), to be used as payments for its legal services.

According to a new report, the law firm has partnered with Coinpass, a cryptocurrency exchange registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As part of the collaboration, Gunnercooke will process payments made with these crypto assets via the Coinpass platform. 

Per the report, this latest development has established Gunnercooke as the first major UK-based law firm to accept payment in cryptocurrencies. The announcement also comes at a time when the firm's FinTech and Crypto-focused arm has witnessed immense growth, amassing a client base of about 100 crypto developers.

Speaking on the latest move, Gunnercooke's Financial Services and FinTech partner, James Burnie said, "We are delighted to be the first major UK law firm to officially start accepting payment in crypto assets… It’s vital that we accept payment in this way for our substantial client base, which spans the entire blockchain and crypto-asset ecosystem. Accepting payment in crypto assets demonstrates our commitment to and understanding of this important and growing community. Over the next decade, I expect to see a gradual transition towards cryptocurrency becoming increasingly accepted as a means of payment generally."

Co-founded by experienced in-house lawyers Sarah Goulbourne and Darryl Cooke in 2010, Gunnercooke is currently one of the UK's fastest-growing law firms. It also expects the new payment method to become popular among its clients within the digital asset industry.

The firm also revealed that it has received its very first crypto payment this month from the crypto-staking platform, Attestant.

Naseer Patel, finance director at gunnercooke added, "Up to now, only a few US law firms allow for crypto-asset payments so we are proud to be at the forefront of innovation in the UK. We will now be able to work with a wider variety of clients across different jurisdictions, plus offer our partners the flexibility to be paid securely in the way they choose."

Crypto Adoption Continues to Surge

Despite the murky state of crypto regulation across the globe, the nascent industry has continued to experience a massive surge in adoption. Several large firms are seeing its potential as both an investable asset and a payment method.

Last year, the Scottish beer-focused outlet, OGV Taproom, announced that it will allow its customers to buy beer using cryptocurrency. Popular electric car company, Tesla, also made a massive $1.5 billion investment in bitcoin and even accepted payments in the digital asset briefly.