Washington D.C. lawyers can accept crypto as payment for services

Lawyers in Washington D.C. can now accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for their services, the D.C. Bar has said.

In its ethics opinion published in June, the Bar said it is not unethical for lawyers to accept cryptocurrency, as long as the fee is reasonable and lawyers can safeguard that virtual property.

“Payment of fees in cryptocurrency is more akin to payment in property than payment in fiat currency,” said the Bar. “Cryptocurrency is, ultimately, simply a relatively new means of transferring economic value.”

The volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, however, does raise challenges for lawyers, but they “cannot hold back the tides of change even if they would like to," said the Bar, adding that crypto is increasingly becoming a form of payment among vendors and service providers.

D.C. becomes the fourth Bar to allow crypto as a form of payment. North Carolina, Nebraska, and New York City bars have also issued ethics opinions that favor crypto payments for lawyers.

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block and the author of The Funding newsletter. As our longest-serving editorial member, Yogita has been instrumental in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With over 3,000 articles to her name, Yogita is The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Before joining The Block, Yogita wrote for CoinDesk and The Economic Times. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her latest updates on X at @Yogita_Khatri5.

WHO WE ARE

The Block is a news provider that strives to be the first and final word on digital assets news, research, and data.

+ Follow us on Google News
Connect with the block on