Edwin Mata
From M&A law to the infrastructure of tokenized markets.
Edwin Mata is an M&A lawyer, entrepreneur, educator, and CEO and Co-Founder of Brickken. His career follows a continuous progression: structuring transactions, building regulated digital trust, translating legal work into software, and applying those disciplines to tokenized capital markets.
- CEO and Co-Founder
BrickkenBrickkenTokenization ofReal World Assets
- Lawyer
M&A background, ICAB directory ID 39793M&A backgroundICAB directoryID 39793
- Educator
Universities and business schoolsUniversitiesand businessschools
- International speaker
Keynotes, panels and executive briefingsKeynotes, panelsand executivebriefings
- Published author
Bylined work in trade and business pressBylined work intrade andbusiness press
The foundation
M&A established the method.
Edwin Mata is CEO and Co-Founder of Brickken, an M&A lawyer, entrepreneur, educator, international speaker and published author. His work combines M&A, qualified trust services and financial technology, with a focus on how tokenized financial instruments are structured, issued, administered, transferred and enforced.
His approach was formed through M&A work on complex cross-border transactions. The method is straightforward: understand the commercial objective, conduct legal due diligence, test the proposed structure against the findings, and allocate the material risks clearly in the transaction documents. At ANF and Signaturit, he applied the same discipline to compliance under eIDAS, electronic signatures, qualified trust services, data protection and information-security standards.
At Leypal, Edwin co-founded and led an electronic-signature and certified-communications platform delivered through a web application and API. The founders later completed a platform exit. At Brickken, that experience informs infrastructure for issuing and managing tokenized financial instruments. Alongside leading the company, he teaches, speaks and publishes on tokenization, digital-asset regulation, capital-markets infrastructure and Agentic Capital Markets.
Bar association listing
Listed in the Barcelona Bar Association member directory
Il·lustre Col·legi de l'Advocacia de Barcelona
Official ICAB directory ID 39793
Official ICAB member directory
The progression
The knowledge behind Brickken was built in sequence.
Edwin then applied that method to qualified trust services, electronic-signature software, legal-technology product development and tokenized financial infrastructure.
Jun 2020 to present
Tokenized financial infrastructure
Brickken
CEO and Co-Founder
At Brickken, Edwin applies his M&A background, experience in qualified trust services and legal-technology product development to tokenized financial infrastructure. As CEO and Co-Founder, he leads the company’s work on issuing, managing and distributing tokenized financial instruments.
Brickken is the system those experiences prepared Edwin to build.
That M&A method carried into certification-authority operations and qualified trust services at ANF, then legal and data-protection leadership within electronic-signature software at Signaturit, including compliance under eIDAS and information-security standards. At Leypal, Edwin co-founded and led a legal-technology platform through an exit.
Brickken applies that experience to infrastructure for tokenized financial instruments. The legal instrument, investor eligibility, transfer restrictions, governance, distributions and other lifecycle operations must work together.
As CEO and Co-Founder, Edwin leads that work for financial institutions, asset managers and regulated entities.
Jun 2019 to Aug 2020
Building legal technology
Leypal
CEO and Co-Founder
At Leypal, Edwin co-founded and led a legal-technology platform for electronic signatures and certified electronic communications, delivered through a web application and API. The founders later completed a platform exit.
Sep 2017 to Jun 2019
Legal, data protection and trust services
Signaturit
Head of Legal and Data Protection Officer
At Signaturit, Edwin established and led the legal function and served as Data Protection Officer, covering GDPR, electronic signatures, trust services and commercial matters. He led the ISO and eIDAS assessment program; during his tenure, Signaturit obtained ISO/IEC 27001 certification and qualified status for its electronic time-stamping service.
Apr 2016 to Aug 2017
Certification and trust services
ANF
Chief Operating Officer and Lawyer
At ANF, Edwin combined legal and operational responsibility within a certification authority. During his tenure, ANF in Spain and ANF AC Malta were listed as qualified trust service providers in their respective national Trusted Lists. The Malta provider offered qualified certificate services for electronic signatures, electronic seals and website authentication. Edwin also coordinated eIDAS, ISO and data-protection compliance.
Professional focus
Law, digital trust and tokenized markets.
The work spans seven areas: M&A, qualified trust services, legal technology, tokenization, regulation, capital-markets infrastructure and Agentic Capital Markets.
- Defined mandates and delegated execution authority
- Eligible assets, transaction limits and approval thresholds
- Monitoring, audit trails, suspension and revocation controls
- Machine-readable instruments and programmable settlement
Point of view
An AI agent requires a mandate, not merely access.
Before an agent may analyze, allocate or execute, its authority must be defined by eligible instruments, permitted actions, transaction limits, approval thresholds and duration. Every action must be attributable and reviewable, and the mandate must be capable of suspension or revocation. Automation changes execution speed, not accountability.
Retail Banker International- Structuring tokenized equity, debt, funds and private credit
- Mapping tokens to enforceable rights and payment obligations
- Designing issuance, transfer, distribution and redemption terms
- Aligning legal documentation, ownership records and on-chain data
Point of view
A token is not the product. Investability is.
Tokenization begins with the instrument, not the smart contract. Legal rights, cash flows, governance, transfer conditions, servicing and exit mechanics must be defined before they are represented on-chain. Technology can administer the instrument; it does not create enforceability by itself.
Forbes Business Council- Digital issuance and maintenance of investor records
- Subscriptions, transfers and lifecycle servicing
- Distributions, corporate actions and redemptions
- Reporting, governance and operational controls
Point of view
Capital-markets infrastructure is tested after issuance.
Issuance is one event in a longer operating cycle. Institutional infrastructure must maintain ownership records, process transfers, distributions and corporate actions, manage exceptions and support reporting throughout the instrument’s lifecycle.
Forbes Business Council- eIDAS conformity assessment, supervisory approval and EU Trusted List entry
- Qualified certificates for electronic signatures, electronic seals and website authentication
- Qualified electronic time stamps and qualified electronic registered delivery services
- Certification-authority operations, GDPR, ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 27001
Point of view
Legal effect and qualified status are distinct.
Under eIDAS, electronic signatures cannot be denied legal effect or admissibility solely for being electronic or non-qualified. Qualified status is service-specific, requiring conformity assessment, a determination by the national supervisory body and Trusted List entry. Signatures, seals, time stamps and registered-delivery services carry distinct legal effects and presumptions.
EU Trusted List- Classification under securities and crypto-asset frameworks
- Issuance, offering and distribution requirements
- Investor eligibility, KYC, AML and sanctions controls
- Custody, transfer, trading and reporting obligations
Point of view
The regulatory perimeter follows the instrument and the activity, not the token label.
A digital representation does not change the legal nature of the underlying claim. Classification comes first, followed by the rules governing issuance, offering, distribution, custody, transfer, trading, disclosure and reporting. Code can apply controls, but it cannot replace the legal analysis that defines them.
CCN- Cross-border M&A and transaction structuring
- Legal due diligence and disclosure
- Transaction documents and contractual risk allocation
- Signing, closing and post-closing matters
Point of view
The documents must reflect the deal.
A sound transaction begins with the commercial objective. The legal work is to test the structure, identify the material risks, decide how those risks should be allocated and document the deal clearly enough to carry the parties from signing through closing.
Forbes Business Council- Legal requirements translated into software workflows
- Legal-process and document automation
- Data protection in digital products
- Building and exiting a legal-technology platform
Point of view
Legal automation must preserve legal effect.
Moving a legal process into software requires more than automation. The workflow must identify the parties, capture consent, preserve evidence, protect personal data and provide a reliable record of what occurred, while allowing intervention when a matter falls outside the standard process.
Leypal interviewThe future of markets will be defined by whether law, technology and capital can operate as one system.
Education and teaching
From legal training to teaching digital markets.
Legal education
Legal education and training
Universidad Pública de Navarra
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)
ISDE
Master in International Law, Foreign Trade and International Relations
U.S. Law Course
Hosted at Columbia Law School
Teaching
Teaching and program leadership
Since 2020, Edwin has taught legal technology, blockchain, tokenization and decentralized finance at universities and business schools, with roles spanning postgraduate teaching, module coordination and program leadership.
Program leadership
Program Director & Creator
Directed and created the Master in Blockchain & Crypto
Designed the complete academic program for Binance Academy and Nuclio Digital School in Europe.
Universidad de Sevilla
Lecturer and Module Coordinator
Expert Course in Tokenization of Business Projects and DeFi
Period
May 2024 to present
Coordinates and teaches the tokenization module for business projects and decentralized finance.
EBIS Business Techschool
Lecturer
Master in Blockchain Management and Web3
Period
Feb 2022 to present
Teaches asset tokenization in the Master in Blockchain Management and Web3.
Barcelona Finance School
Masterclass Lecturer in Tokenization
Postgraduate in Decentralized Finance and Fintech
Period
Oct 2024 to present
Delivers a practical masterclass on the legal, operational and technical stages of real-world asset tokenization.
Nuclio Digital School
Professor and Program Director
ICT Law and Startups; Master in Blockchain & Crypto
Period
Sep 2020 to Dec 2022
Taught ICT law, created blockchain curricula and directed the Master in Blockchain & Crypto.
UPF Barcelona School of Management
Postgraduate Lecturer
Blockchain and other DLT Technologies
Period
Jul 2021 to Jan 2022
Taught the legal and tax implications of distributed-ledger technologies and cryptoassets.
Universidad CEU San Pablo
Lecturer
Master in Legaltech
Period
Jun 2020 to Jun 2023
Taught digital assets, digital identity and eIDAS, and supervised final master’s projects.
Public record
On stage, in print and on the record.
Official event and publication pages document Edwin’s speaking and published work.
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Analysis on tokenized capital, institutional adoption and market shifts.