United Kingdom-based law firm Gunnercooke is working towards accepting crypto assets including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as payment options for services rendered. If carried out as planned, it would become the first major law firm in the country to do so.
To enable it to offer such services, Gunnercooke noted that it will be partnering with Coinpass – a crypto exchange registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The move comes at a time when Gunnercooke’s FinTech and Crypto-focused arm has amassed a client base of around 100 cryptocurrency developers, platforms, and exchanges. Hence, Gunnercooke will accept crypto payments to cater to the needs of its clientele.
Co-founded by Sarah Goulbourne and Darryl Cooke in 2010, Gunnercooke is a UK-based commercial and corporate law firm with over 300 partners across seven offices.
The firm stated that it received its first crypto payment this month from Attestant – a firm that provides crypto staking services.
“Up to now, only a few US law firms allow for cryptoasset 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,” Naseer Patel, finance director at Gunnercooke, said.
Crypto Payment Use Cases on the Rise
Cryptocurrencies are speculative by nature, but are continuing to gain global recognition as a payment method. Large firms including retail stores, theater chains, and banks are already planning to or accepting crypto assets for payments in recent times.
Most of these firms noted that offering crypto services is aimed at meeting clients’ demands for the asset class, and that they might risk losing their customers to competitors who offer such services if they don’t.Offering such services has also benefited the firms in the sense that it has helped them to attract new customers.
Meanwhile, large law firms have not been left out, as some in the past have already accepted crypto as payments for services rendered. Gunnercooke has now joined a growing list of big legal firms including Perkins Coie, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Frost Brown Todd LLC, McLaughlin & Stern LLP, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan that are accepting crypto as payment options.
