ALEC SILVESTER advises clients on a broad range of securities, commodities, compliance, and enforcement matters across both traditional financial markets and emerging technologies. He represents U.S. and non-U.S. broker-dealers, investment advisers, centralized and decentralized exchanges, financial institutions, technology companies, and digital-asset businesses navigating complex questions under the federal securities and commodities laws. His practice includes counseling on regulatory obligations, supervisory and compliance programs, market-structure considerations, and the application of securities and commodities laws to innovative products and business models, including those involving blockchain and distributed-ledger technology.
Alec is a member of Sidley’s global Securities Enforcement and Regulatory practice, which was named “Compliance Practice Group of the Year” (2023) by Law360, recognized as “Law Firm of the Year” for Securities Regulation in 2024, 2020, and 2017 by U.S. News – Best Lawyers®, and ranked Band 1 in Financial Services Regulation: Broker Dealer (Compliance & Enforcement) by Chambers USA for 11 consecutive years. He also belongs to Sidley’s FinTech and Blockchain Group, which was ranked Band 1 in FinTech Legal: Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies — USA — Nationwide by the Chambers FinTech guide in 2025 and 2024, and named “FinTech Practice Group of the Year” (2020) by Law360.
Alec counsels exchanges, technology companies, blockchain network foundations, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and financial institutions on a wide range of regulatory issues. His work includes advising on federal securities laws, tokenization strategies, custody and safekeeping requirements, cross-border regulatory considerations, and money-services-business obligations. His has extensive experience evaluating the application of the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, the Investment Advisers Act, the Investment Company Act, the Commodity Exchange Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act to emerging business models and market activity.
Alec also maintains a robust transactional practice focused on digital-asset and technology-driven financial services. He advises clients on mergers and acquisitions involving blockchain and digital-asset businesses, token purchase arrangements, and strategic partnerships between traditional financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms. Alec’s transactional experience includes negotiating custody agreements, drafting digital-asset loan agreements with market makers and other counterparties, and preparing grant and incentive agreements for blockchain ecosystem development. He additionally assists traditional funds and crypto-focused investment vehicles in structuring transactions and preparing offering materials, including risk disclosures for private placement memoranda.
Beyond Alec’s work with emerging technologies, he also advises clients on a wide range of traditional financial regulatory and enforcement matters. Alec assists public and private companies, financial institutions, and market participants in responding to inquiries from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Research (OFR), and other regulators. His experience includes advising on SEC enforcement matters involving valuation and public-company disclosures; counseling clients on CFTC regulatory requirements and cross-border activity; and guiding institutions through OFR-related reporting and relief requests involving non-centrally cleared bilateral repo obligations. Alec also supports clients in conducting internal reviews, assessing regulatory risk, and developing compliance strategies across the federal securities and commodities frameworks.
Alec maintains an active pro bono practice focused on drafting First Amendment amicus briefs before the Supreme Court of the United States, federal courts of appeals, and U.S. district courts.