Governance & Legal Structure

Version 1.0 — Last Updated: 18-11-2025

This page describes how ChainGuard is organised from a compliance, privacy, and information-security perspective. It explains our key roles, legal entity structure, and how responsibilities are distributed across the organisation.

Table of Contents


1. Corporate & Legal Entity

  • Operating entity: Chain-Fi Limited ("Chain-Fi"), registered in England & Wales.

  • Product brand: ChainGuard – the security and identity product suite operated by Chain-Fi Limited.

  • Development team: Chain-Fi Labs – the research and engineering arm responsible for designing and building the ChainGuard products under Chain-Fi Limited.

Legal Details:

  • Registration Number: 15507356
  • VAT Number: GB461989346
  • Registered Office: 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom

Unless otherwise stated, all references to "ChainGuard", "Chain-Fi" or "the Company" in this Compliance Center refer to Chain-Fi Limited, including activities performed by its Chain-Fi Labs team.

ChainGuard provides technology and infrastructure services for digital asset security and identity; it does not hold client funds or operate as a custodial exchange. Our services are designed as a non-custodial security and identity layer that enables compliance for regulated entities and dApps.

2. Governance Model

ChainGuard operates under a governance structure that ensures clear accountability for compliance, privacy, and security across the organisation.

Board & CEO – Dennis Reckermann

  • Set overall risk appetite, approve policies, and ensure resources for compliance, security, and privacy.
  • Provide executive sponsorship for the compliance programme and DPO function.
  • Provide executive oversight and strategic direction for regulatory compliance.

Contact: dennis@chain-fi.io (strategic and partnership inquiries)

Security Engineering Lead – Mathias Pellegrin

  • Designs and maintains the security architecture for ChainGuard products.
  • Implements technical controls required by security and compliance policies.
  • Owns secure development practices and infrastructure security.

Contact: mathias@chain-fi.io

Product & Engineering

  • Implement privacy-by-design, secure development, and logging/audit requirements defined by Compliance and Security.
  • Execute product features in alignment with compliance and security guidance.

Operations & Support

  • Ensure day-to-day adherence to onboarding, monitoring, incident-response, and KYC/AML procedures.
  • Maintain operational compliance with established policies and procedures.

3. Roles & Responsibilities (Detailed)

Compliance Officer / MLRO

Responsible for:

  • Sanctions monitoring
  • Restricted user audits
  • AML oversight
  • Regulatory updates
  • Enterprise partner compliance

Contact: privacy@chain-fi.io

Data Protection Lead (DPL)

Responsible for:

  • GDPR & privacy compliance
  • Data processing controls
  • Sub-processor assessments
  • Handling privacy requests

Contact: privacy@chain-fi.io

Security Engineering Lead

Responsible for:

  • Vault infrastructure
  • Encryption
  • Access controls
  • Log integrity

Contact: mathias@chain-fi.io

5. Record Retention Policy

CategoryRetentionJustification
Tax & billing info6–7 yearsUK & EU tax law
AML logs5 yearsAML directives
General logs6–36 monthsSecurity & debugging
Contract & enterprise agreements7+ yearsLegal obligations
KYC data (if used)Based on providerYou do not store raw KYC

6. Audit Logs & Operational Traceability

ChainGuard automatically logs:

  • Vault interactions
  • Wallet binding
  • Device verification
  • Relayer transactions
  • Gasless operations
  • Subscription events
  • API usage

Logs are:

  • Immutable
  • Timestamped
  • Tied to identity + wallet
  • Stored securely
  • Accessible for audits

7. Access Controls

  • Production access limited to authorized personnel
  • Principle of least privilege
  • MFA required
  • Annual access reviews
  • Role-based permissions

8. Key Policies & Documentation

Public summaries of important policies:

9. Oversight & Review

These documents are reviewed annually or when:

  • Regulations change
  • New services are added
  • New jurisdictions added

10. Forward-Looking Statements

If ChainGuard introduces:

  • Custody features
  • On/off-ramping
  • Asset management
  • Regulated financial activities

→ Additional licensing may become required.

This will be handled under a separate regulated entity.

11. ISO 27001 Requirements

Yes — and here is the quick breakdown:

DocumentRequired for ISO 27001?Notes
Data Protection & Privacy✔ REQUIREDISO Annex A.18 ("Compliance with legal and contractual requirements")
Sanctions & Restricted Use✔ Strongly RecommendedFalls under A.5.7 & A.6.1.3 (screening, compliance, prohibited usage)
Governance & Record-Keeping✔ REQUIREDISO requires evidence of governance, logs, retention, roles & responsibilities (A.5, A.6, A.8, A.12)

So yes — these 3 documents help significantly with ISO certification.

Combined with:

  • Security policies
  • Access control policies
  • Incident response
  • Development standards

12. Versioning & Change Log

VersionDateChange
1.0.018-11-2025Initial publication of governance section.

Related Documentation


Next: Review Sanctions & Restrictions or explore jurisdiction-specific compliance.

Governance & Record-Keeping | ChainGuard Compliance Center | ChainGuard