Chris Daniel is the Founder and Chair of the Global Fintech & Payments Group of Paul Hastings and is a partner in the firm’s Corporate department. Chris’ unique strength lies in his ability to blend his financial services regulatory expertise with his many years of transactional experience. His client base generally consists of:

• Legacy depositories, payments companies, and card networks who are innovating or contracting with Fintechs.
• Trusted Platform Companies, for which financial services contribute a significant percentage of their business.
• Private equity and venture capital firms investing in and existing outside of Fintech companies, and the ongoing representation of those Fintech portfolio companies.
• Fintech startups as they develop and commercialize their product offerings.
• Cryptocurrency companies along the entire range of crypto offerings from blockchain development to crypto exchanges, DeFi and DApps, and ecosystem development.

Chris regularly practices before every state banking department, all federal banking agencies, FinCEN, and OFAC.

• The Legal 500 USA, Leading Lawyer, Fintech (2020-2022)
• The Legal 500, Leading Lawyer for Media, Technology, and Telecoms - Fintech (2021)
• Sole lawyer ranked Band 1 in the United States for Fintech Legal: Payments & Lending in the 2018-2021 Chambers Fintech Guides.
• Recognized as a 2021 Acritas Star, an international database of high-performing lawyers recommended by clients.
• Honored by Daily Report as a Distinguished Leader at the 2019 and 2020 Georgia Legal Awards.
• Listed as one of the six Leading Lawyers for Fintech in the United States since the launch of the Fintech category in 2019 by The Legal 500.
• Ranked Band 3 for Financial Services Regulation: Consumer Finance (Compliance) U.S. Nationwide by Chambers.
• Included each year in the annual listing of The Best Lawyers in America.
• Founded and leads Paul Hastings' Global Fintech & Payments Practice, which is one of only two Fintech Groups ranked Band 1 in the U.S. for Fintech Legal by Chambers.
• His work was ranked as “standout” and in the top banding category in the “Accessing New Markets and Capital” category in the 2018 Financial Times’ North America Innovative lawyers report for the first ever major legislative victory for cryptocurrency against a regulatory challenge for advising cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on the passing of a North Carolina state House bill allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to operate due to the fact that cryptocurrency is exempt from traditional money transmission laws.
• His work was "highly commended" in the Financial Times'  North America Innovative Lawyers report in the “Enabling Clients to Innovate” category for helping to launch Samsung Pay on a tight schedule using a strategy that reinvented the way financial services contracts are created and negotiated.

• University of Kentucky College of Law, J.D., 1995 (magna cum laude, Articles Editor for The Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Law)
• Previously served in the U.S. Air Force from 1987–1992, where he was an Instructor Pilot for the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program
• Wake Forest University, B.A., 1987 (cum laude, with honors in Economics, Member of the 1986 NCAA Championship Golf Team)