Tokenised collateral and settlement credibility
Assessing whether a proposed collateral or settlement model is legally, operationally and commercially credible.
Capital markets · Legal engineering · Digital infrastructure
Turning legal complexity into executable capital markets infrastructure.
McGonagle Advisory helps financial institutions, FMIs and technology firms translate legal, collateral and digital-asset requirements into product architecture, operating models and credible delivery plans.
Professional experience
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Why McGonagle Advisory
Upstream advice before critical design, investment and delivery decisions.
McGonagle Advisory sits upstream of implementation, helping clients decide what should be built, how it should be structured, and whether it can withstand legal, operational and institutional scrutiny.
Capital markets depth
Deep derivatives, collateral and market-infrastructure expertise across institutional products and workflows.
Legal, product and technology bridge
Experience across ISDA, global banks and financial technology, with practical understanding of CDM, tokenisation, smart contracts and computable contracts.
Independent design judgement
Clear challenge where legal, product, commercial and engineering teams need one design authority.
Scenarios
Typical scenarios I help with.
I help clients turn difficult legal, collateral, digital-asset and market-infrastructure questions into product architecture, operating models and executable delivery plans.
Legal terms into product requirements
Translating rights, obligations and lifecycle events into product requirements, workflows and system logic.
Smart contract and workflow review
Reviewing computable contract, smart contract or workflow designs before client, investor or regulator engagement.
Documentation-to-data operating models
Designing operating models using CDM, legal engineering and governance controls.
Roadmaps for digital asset infrastructure
Turning digital asset, collateral or market infrastructure strategies into credible product and implementation roadmaps.
Independent design authority
Providing challenge where legal, product, commercial and engineering teams need a common architecture.
Services
Founder-led advisory across strategy, legal engineering and product architecture.
Engagements are scoped around specific design questions, decision points and senior stakeholder needs.
Strategic advisory
For boards, executives, investors and senior teams.
Assessing digital asset, collateral, smart contract and market infrastructure opportunities before major strategic, commercial or investment commitments are made.
Typical outputs
Executive briefings, strategy papers, market-structure analysis, product direction.
Legal engineering and product architecture
For firms turning legal and operational requirements into executable designs.
Converting legal documentation, market standards, lifecycle events and operating requirements into product designs, workflows and executable specifications.
Typical outputs
Product architecture, operating models, documentation-to-data mapping, workflow specifications.
Independent design review
For teams needing senior challenge before committing.
Reviewing a product direction, client engagement, regulatory discussion, investment decision or implementation programme before it becomes expensive to change.
Typical outputs
Design reviews, risk assessments, challenge papers, client or investor-readiness reviews.
McGonagle Advisory is not a law firm, software vendor or staff-augmentation provider. Its role is to provide independent strategic, legal-operational and product-architecture advice before and during critical design decisions.
Approach
Practical engagement formats for senior teams.
Engagements can take the form of focused decision support, structured diagnostics or ongoing senior input into live programmes.
A focused session for boards, founders or leadership teams assessing a product, market-structure opportunity or strategic direction.
A short, structured review of a proposed product, platform or workflow, identifying design gaps, execution risks and decision points.
Senior advisory support for live programmes where legal, product, commercial and technical teams need a common architecture and narrative.
Profile
Founder-led by Ciarán McGonagle, a capital markets lawyer and product leader.
I have worked at ISDA, leading global financial institutions and financial market infrastructure providers, focused on the legal, operational and technological foundations of digital assets, smart derivatives contracts, tokenisation and computable financial-market workflows.
Relevant experience
- Former Assistant General Counsel, ISDA — led work across smart derivatives contracts, digital asset documentation and legal data standards.
- Chief Legal & Product Officer, fintech infrastructure — directed product architecture for tokenised financial instruments and automated collateral workflows.
- Former Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Allen & Overy — experience across global financial institutions and capital markets legal practice.
Industry leadership
- Chair, FINOS CDM Tokenised Assets Working Group & Smart Contracts Taskforce
- Global Digital Finance Executive in Residence
- LexisNexis Banking & Finance Consulting Editorial Board
Industry acknowledgements
- RegTech Insight Awards Europe, 2026 – Best Post-Trade Solution (Tokenovate)
- The Lawyer Hot 100, 2025
- Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Award, 2019 – Innovation in Legal Expertise (ISDA)
Publications
Published work on digital assets, smart contracts and market infrastructure.
A selection of publications, expert contributions and journal articles across capital markets law, tokenisation and computable contracts.
2026
Crypto derivatives — legal, regulatory and contractual issues
LexisNexis Practice Note · Banking & Finance
2024Schrödinger’s property? D’Aloia and the legal superposition of digital assets
Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Finance Law
2023Providing Contractual Certainty — the ISDA Digital Asset Derivatives Definitions
ISDA Quarterly
2022If we build it, will they come? Developing and distributing digital standards for smart derivatives contracts
MIT Computational Law Report
2021Translations: Creating Legally Effective Smart Derivatives Contracts
Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Finance Law
2019Smart Derivatives Contracts: the ISDA Master Agreement and the automation of payments and deliveries
Academic paper with Professor Christopher D. Clack (UCL)
Contact
Discuss a potential mandate.
Initial discussions are used to assess fit, scope and timing for potential engagements. Please get in touch where there is a clear potential mandate involving tokenisation, smart contracts, collateral, settlement or market infrastructure.