Gavin Fearey
Partner
Bitcoin and Digital Asset Infrastructure, Commodity Pools, Investment Advisers and Other Asset Managers, Investment Funds, Fund Formation, Regulatory, Compliance & Corporate Governance, Securities and Capital Markets
Dallas
(817) 944-8760
Gavin Fearey represents private investment fund managers, commodity pool operators, bitcoin-native companies and other businesses in Texas and globally.
A core of Gavin’s practice is working with bitcoin-native companies, bitcoin ‘hodlers’ and institutions looking to add bitcoin, stablecoins and other digital assets to their portfolios, products or transactions. Since 2017, he has worked with bitcoin custody solution providers, companies holding bitcoin as a treasury asset, companies using bitcoin as collateral for loans, bitcoin miners and infrastructure developers, and nonprofit developers within the bitcoin ecosystem. These clients tend to be nimble, technical, and can grow quickly—mirroring bitcoin’s own adoption curve.
With over 24 years of experience, Gavin is well-versed in CFTC, SEC and other U.S. regulatory issues impacting traditional institutional clients such as investment managers, private investment funds and commodity pool operators, whether in the context of separately managed accounts or helping clients with fund formations for hedge funds, commodity pools, digital asset funds, venture capital funds, private equity funds, and private credit funds. Gavin and associate Nick Curley practice alongside Fund Formation and Private Investment Funds partners at Rimôn such as Geoffrey Perusse, Nicole Kalajian and Sean Byrne.
He collaborates with Rimôn colleagues when client projects involve secured lending, asset recovery, employment, tax, real estate, bank regulatory, intellectual property and other transactional and regulatory matters.
Gavin has roots in the bitcoin community and investment management ecosystem in Texas but he works with clients from all over North America and globally. Gavin speaks at events like the North American Blockchain Summit, serves as a steering committee member for the DFW Compliance Roundtable, and contributes to public policy and regulatory discussions through the Texas Blockchain Council and the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. In July 2025, Gavin spoke about stablecoins and bitcoin at an event for community banks at The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City branch in Denver, Colorado. Gavin is happy that Texas adopted laws to create a strategic bitcoin reserve in its most recent legislative session.
Gavin’s practice involves assisting these types of clients:
- Fund Managers: Managers launching and operating hedge, venture, credit and other private investment funds.
- CPOs/CTAs: Commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisors launching funds or managed accounts that trade futures, swaps, retail forex and other commodity interests.
- RIAs/ERAs: SEC-registered and state-registered investment advisers, exempt reporting advisers seeking counsel on transactions, disclosures and regulatory compliance practices and procedures.
- Bitcoin-Native Companies: Custodial solution providers, infrastructure builders and bitcoin miners.
- Traditional Businesses: Banks, institutional asset managers and family offices seeking treasury diversification or incorporating bitcoin custody or trading solutions into their current businesses.
- Regulatory Planning for Services: Banks and other businesses planning to provide services for bitcoin and stablecoins.
- Private Lenders: Entities lending against digital collateral or purchasing loans backed by bitcoin.
- Non-Profits and Policy Advocates: Non-profit trade associations and foundations requiring counsel on transaction planning and regulatory matters.
Representative examples of projects on which Gavin provides legal counsel are below:
Fund Structures and Launches
- Hybrid structures. Gavin serves as legal counsel to clients launching hybrid investment structures. In one example, an institutional client launched and operated a Delaware fund offering investors the opportunity to opt-in to investments in select hedge funds, private equity and venture style funds, as well as seed investments in managers.
- Commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisers. For many years, Gavin has counseled multiple commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisers in CFTC registration and NFA membership, launch of commodity pools and trading programs, preparation of disclosure documents, navigating NFA examinations, and ongoing regulatory compliance. In several examples, the client registered as a CPO with the CFTC, established its CFTC/NFA compliance program, launched a commodity pool with systematic or discretionary trading strategies implemented through futures and other commodity interests, and obtained guidance through its first NFA examination. Gavin has also counseled many clients on the applicability of CFTC exemptions from registration or certain recordkeeping, disclosure and reporting requirements.
- In-house experience. Gavin has served in-house and advised on legal and compliance issues for both a registered commodity pool operator and a technology provider licensing futures-based indicators and indices to mutual funds, ETFs, insurance companies and global investment banks.
- SEC-registered investment advisers and exempt reporting advisers. In counseling investment advisers and other managers, Gavin has advised on SEC and state securities regulatory and compliance requirements, as well as registrations and exemptions in numerous situations, whether in the context of private investment funds or managed accounts.
- Micro venture fund. Gavin and associate Nick Curley represented an emerging investment manager forming its first venture capital fund to identify early-stage technology ventures, prioritizing technical founders developing solutions in sectors such as AI, cybersecurity and data infrastructure.
- Restructuring and termination of funds. Over several market cycles, Gavin has assisted both billion-dollar institutional managers and emerging managers on the restructuring or restructuring of many different types of private investment funds.
Bitcoin and Digital Assets
- Fund launches. Gavin has represented multiple managers in the launch of private investment funds investing in bitcoin, bitcoin native-companies, and other digital assets, employing many different investment strategies, whether in hedge funds, venture capital funds, grantor trusts or credit funds.
- In-kind subscriptions and redemptions. Gavin has advised several managers with private investment funds implementing monthly or daily in-kind subscriptions and withdrawals, as well as on other bitcoin-related matters, bearing in mind the subscription/redemption process & pricing, NAV calculation, fee calculations, as well as expenses to be borne by manager or fund. In one example, Gavin and associate Nick Curley updated the documents for a bitcoin private investment trust to a new institutional format whilst the client prioritized continued grantor tax treatment, as well as its preferred mechanism for NAV per unit to correspond to price of bitcoin (using reduction in units via transfer or sale).
- Bitcoin custody. Gavin represented a service provider employing multi-institutional custody solution in which independent institutions each hold three separate keys to a vault for a client holding bitcoin. In another example, Gavin represented a large institutional manager in review and negotiation of bitcoin custodial arrangements with well-known bitcoin custody solution providers.
- Digital asset recovery. Gavin represented a digital asset investment adviser and a private fund that fell victim to an airdrop attack and assisted with the ‘unicorn’ recovery of a significant portion of the stolen funds. Gavin collaborated with associate Nick Curley, lawyers outside the firm, a blockchain analytics firm, and coordinated with the U.S. government which seized the stolen funds. This collaborative team assisted with an asset forfeiture process in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, followed by a petition for remission filed with the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) of the U.S. Department of Justice, through which the client ultimately received indirect proceeds of the stolen assets.
- Regulatory and industry analysis. In one example, Gavin represented a prominent bitcoin mining client on regulatory planning in Texas. He also assisted a billion-dollar institutional manager on regulatory planning and industry analysis for bitcoin and ethereum spot ETFs. Gavin also served as subject matter counsel in extensive state regulatory work for a large digital asset trading platform.
Thought Leadership – Speeches, Podcasts and Webinars:
- Custody Challenges Banks Face when Offering Bitcoin and Stablecoin-Related Services, and How Evolving Regulations are Shaping the Future of Digital Finance, BSA/AML Mile High Summit, hosted at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Denver Branch, July 2025.
- Self-Custody: Moderator for Panel with public policy leads at Ledger and Block, Texas Representative Cody Harris, Main Stage, North American Blockchain Summit, November 2023.
- Bitcoin Custody: Legal Due Diligence and Disclosure Points, CLE, North American Blockchain Summit, November 2023.
- The Last Trade: Bitcoin’s Custodial Landscape Through a Legal Lens, Podcast, September 2023.
- Weaver On-Chain: Digital Asset Policy and Regulatory Update, Podcast, August 2023.
- Understanding the WSBA Crypto Industry Principles, Podcast, Custody & Segregation of Assets, August 2023.
- DFW Compliance Roundtable: Moderator for SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office’s virtual call with hundreds of participants from registered firms and DFW Compliance Roundtable.
- Emerging Digital Currencies/Technologies – Cryptocurrency, NFT’s and Blockchain, The Bridge Group Spring Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, April 2022.
- Digital Assets and Securities, Panelist and Moderator, Texas Blockchain Summit, November 2022.
- From Bitcoin to DeFi: Regulatory, Compliance, & Legislative Developments Affecting the Digital Assets & Cryptocurrency Industry, Financial Services Roundtable (Panelist), September 2021.
- Legal Developments in Cryptocurrency & Blockchain, with William Magnuson, Associate Professor of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law, Dallas Bar Association, May 2021.
- Blockchain & Bitcoin, Fall 2020 CMISS Retreat, University of Oklahoma (Panelist). November 2020.
- Evaluating Digital Asset Custodians: Legal Due Diligence & Disclosure Points for Investment Advisers & Family Offices, September 2020.
- Fintech 2019: A Regulatory Overview of Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Digital Coins & Tokens, New York City Bar Association, November 2019.
- Texas Hedge Fund Association, Cryptocurrency Event, Panelist, March 2018.
- Bitcoin & Blockchain: U.S. Regulatory Considerations, Winstead University, March 2018.
- SoFin @ SXSW, Presenter, March 2018.
- Reinventing Money, The State of Cryptocurrency, Ft. Worth Business Press, Panelist, January 2018.
Thought Leadership – Publications:
- Digital Asset Customer Protections Signed into Texas Law, Winstead PC Client Alert, June 2023.
- Letter to SEC Div. of Investment Management: Custody Rule and Digital Assets, Principal Contributor, Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, November 2022.
- The Division of Examinations’ Continued Focus on Digital Asset Securities & Implications for Investment Advisers, Winstead PC Client Alert, March 2021.
- Letter from American Bar Association, Business Law Section, to International Organization of Security Commissions (IOSCO) on Issues, Risks & Regulatory Considerations Relating to Crypto-Assets Trading Platforms, joint principal draftsperson, July 2019.
- Letter to Division of Investment Management: Engaging on Non-DVP Custodial Practices & Digital Assets, submitted as legal counsel to Verady, Inc. (Ledgible), May 2019.
- Letter to Division of Investment Management: Response to Staff Letter: Engaging on Fund Innovation & Cryptocurrency-related Holdings, Christopher Allen, Bryan Bishop, Angus Champion de Crespigny, Gavin Fearey, & Caitlin Long, September 2018.
- Bitcoin & Blockchain: Certain U.S. Regulatory Considerations for Investment Managers, Practical Compliance & Risk Management for the Securities Industry, Wolters Klower, January 2018.
News, Events, & Insights
- CFTC No-Action Letter 25-50: Recasting the QEP Exemption
Insights January 16, 2026
- Rimon Attorneys Nick Curley and Gavin Fearey Assist Texas Blockchain Council with GENIUS Act Comment Letter
Insights November 10, 2025
- Rimon Attorneys Attend Texcap Conference and North American Blockchain Summit
Events October 27, 2025