Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) has established itself as one of the world’s most influential platforms for leaders in finance, regulation, technology, and digital assets. The 2025 edition is expected to draw a high concentration of global policymakers, sovereign wealth funds, major financial institutions, arbitration specialists, and the most recognised names shaping international financial regulation.
Headline Speaker: Irina Heaver
Among the headline speakers is Irina Heaver, widely regarded as the UAE’s leading crypto lawyer. Her expertise in digital-asset regulation, tokenisation frameworks, and cross-border structuring, coupled with her extensive experience, sets her apart as a leading authority in the field.
With 18 years of experience, Heaver has been deeply embedded in the UAE’s economic, regulatory, and legal landscape. Her advice is sought by government entities, sovereign wealth funds, global financial institutions, and multinational enterprises on high-value projects and complex cross-border matters. Before founding her own firm, she served as General Counsel for the world’s largest shipping conglomerate, overseeing major international transactions and regulatory strategies across multiple jurisdictions.
Nine years ago, she founded NeosLegal, the UAE’s first crypto-native law firm. In 2018, she co-founded a UAE-based cryptocurrency exchange, where she served as General Counsel, securing regulatory approvals across several international jurisdictions before exiting in 2020. This combination of corporate leadership and founder-level operational experience has cemented her position as a uniquely qualified crypto lawyer navigating both regulatory compliance and commercial execution.
Expertise in Blockchain and Digital Assets
Since 2016, Heaver and her team have structured more than 300 blockchain projects, advising on regulatory strategy, tokenisation frameworks, exchange models, licensing pathways, dispute resolution, and multi-jurisdictional structuring. UAE regulators frequently consult her on tokenisation policy, marketing rules, enforcement matters, and digital-asset governance.
Focus on Global Crypto Disputes at ADFW
At Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025, Irina Heaver will join a core conversation on global crypto disputes and cross-border enforcement. The discussion will go beyond theory and into real-world problems the market is already facing: disputes involving exchanges and token issuers, multi-chain transactions gone wrong, insolvency events, fraud, market abuse, smart-contract failures, and the practical headache of tracing assets across borders and blockchains.
With ADFW attracting senior regulators, major financial institutions, sovereign funds, and global media, Irina Heaver’s inclusion in this conversation reflects the trust she has earned as one of the region’s go-to voices on crypto regulations.
Her work is helping to position the UAE as a serious venue for resolving complex cross-border digital-asset disputes, not just a place where deals are done, but where rules are clear, contracts are respected, and disputes can actually be solved. In doing so, she is contributing to the standards that will define how Web3 is governed in the years ahead.