Meet the Team: Our Legal Counsel, Nathan!

Nathan works as a Legal Counsel at Blockchain HELIX

Profile

Name: Nathan Vandy
Age: 24
Job: Legal Counsel
Career: LinkedIn
Hobbies: Producing music, geopolitics, fitness
Fun Fact: I can speak a dialect from Sierra Leone called Creole. It has English as its base but also includes Portuguese, French and Spanish words, too.

Tomas Hahn: Hello, Nathan! You were born and raised in the UK. What brought you to Frankfurt?

Nathan Vandy: Hey Tom. It’s a great question. The simple answer would be that I moved to Frankfurt simply to work, but there’s more to it than just that.

To be honest, I’ve always had an inquisitive and exploring personality. When I completed my law degree during the Brexit referendum in 2016, my interest in Europe and the EU conversation led me to pack my bag and complete a Masters in European Law at Maastricht University. I’ve been studying and working in different European jurisdictions since then (i.e. UK, Netherlands and Switzerland), it was only a matter of time till I made my way to Germany, Frankfurt.

Frankfurt on its own merit is also a great city — one of the financial districts of Europe. It’s got a great history being the birthplace of Goethe, home of the Rothschilds and the location where the Kings and Emperors of Germany were crowned.

Lastly, the opportunity to work in the blockchain and digital identity industry at an innovative company such as Blockchain HELIX was hard to say no to.

TH: What do you do at Blockchain HELIX?

NV: Well, as Legal Counsel of any company, you are responsible for a broad range of legal matters. For me, this can range from daily commercial matters with contracts to more technical matters such as supporting the development of data governance. The variety of work requires a healthy understanding of many legal areas and jurisdictions and so our role is often dubbed as a generalist specialist. On a higher concept level, I support the mapping of Blockchain HELIX’s legal and regulatory strategy.

In addition to the legal work that I’m primarily involved in, I also support on a marketing level and represent the company at some exciting conferences and initiatives. Currently, we are involved in the UK. Gov’s open consultation in digital identities.

TH: What do you like the most about your role as a legal counsel?

NV: Where do I start? Firstly would be the variety of work. One moment I would be reviewing and drafting a Terms of Use for our upcoming helix id platform, the next I would be developing a Data Protection Impact Assessment. This variety means that one day is never quite the same as the next. It broadens my skill set, time management skills and most importantly keeps the work exciting.

Next would be the team working aspect. There’s a lot of cross-department support that occurs at Blockchain HELIX. The marketing team works with the technical team, the legal team works with the business development team etc.. Having a flat structure, similar to many other start-ups, means that information flows quicker, different disciplines are considered and co-worker reviews mean that tasks are completed to a high quality.

Lastly, would be the product, helix id. An ongoing part of my legal research is assessing how to give users more control and transparency of their data use online. The product that we are developing increases data protection and privacy by users controlling and managing who has access to their personal information. It’s pretty groundbreaking.

TH: You wrote your master thesis on the regulatory aspects of blockchain technology. What do you think are the biggest obstacles for the regulation of blockchain technology?

NV: Yes, more specifically I focused on data privacy (focused on the GDPR) issues in the implementation of permissioned blockchains. This included assessing the definition of anonymous and pseudonymous data on a blockchain, the liability issues of the nodes on the platform, and whether data user rights such as the right to deletion could be ensured. I discussed some of the legal and technical solutions to these issues based on case law and current technology standards, however there still needs to be further clarification on these issues on both a European and national level.

On a side note, I think it’s pretty amazing that I’m working at a company which deals with so many of the issues I assessed during my Master Thesis. The world works in marvelous ways.

Regarding the biggest obstacles, I believe legal clarification is very important to bring trust and institutional money into the sector. In my opinion this is only a matter of time now, with countries such as Malta, Liechtenstein releasing regulations in the area, and other European countries due to follow.

TH: If you would be a superhero, who would you be and why?

NV: So, I would be Superman because he works a humble job during the day then kicks ass at night. I would probably end up flying to work to avoid the commute! *laughs*

He’s aware of his weaknesses as well, which I think is important. Plus I love the sun, so we already have that in common. And naturally, Superman would definitely use helix id to protect his identity also.

TH: Thanks for the chat, Nathan!

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