Nadaine Tongco-Edades, CPA, esq. is a finalist for “In-House Lawyer of the Year”, “Woman Lawyer of the Year”, and “Young Lawyer of the Year” in Asia Legal Business Philippine Law Awards 2024. This is a leading mainstream legal award and not specific to Web3 or tech, with finalists from leading conglomerates and law firms. 

Nadaine is one of Asia’s most senior Web3 tax lawyers. She is a finalist alongside her home country’s leading and most senior mainstream tax lawyers, Sylvette Tankiang (Managing Partner of the Villaraza law firm and President of the Harvard Club of the Philippines) and Benedicta “Dick” Du-Baladad (CEO of BDB Law and former President of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Financial Executives of the Philippines (FINEX) and Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP)).

Other finalists include Lirene Mora (global head of legal of International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI), one of the world’s ten largest port operators), Anna Michelle Llovido (company secretary of Emperador, the world’s largest brandy producer, and Megaworld, one of the Philippines’ 5 largest real estate developers), heads of legal from HSBC and Philippine banks, and Robert de Guzman (Chief Legal Officer of Coins.ph, the Philippine crypto exchange).

Nadaine led the legal team’s win as “Innovative In-House Team of the Year” in ALB Philippine Law Awards 2023. This award in 2024 is being contested by conglomerates and multinationals including ICTSI, Aboitiz (one of 5 largest conglomerates), Nestle, Nissan, SANOFI (pharmaceuticals), and Union Bank of the Philippines. 

Nadaine works as VP-Finance & Tax, Controller and Associate General Counsel of Atlas Development Services, a core contributor to Enjin Blockchain. She is also the youngest tax professor in the University of the Philippines College of Law, and the only tax academic in Asia with direct experience leading a major Web3 ecosystem, working in a leading corporate law firm, and working as an auditor in a “Big 4” accounting firm. She placed 6th in the 2018 Philippine national bar examinations, the most difficult professional exam in a country of over 100 million people, and was featured in national television and newspapers.

More broadly, Nadaine is one of Asia’s most senior female Web3 project leaders. She led commercial, legal, tax/finance and technical integration aspects of recent ecosystem milestones such as the Enjin Blockchain launch and related corporate structuring, Enjin token and NFT migrations, and the Efinity Polkadot crowdloan. She is one of the pioneers of integrating blockchain accounting and tracking software in Asia, as well as other expense management, corporate treasury, and human resource tracking platforms. She is both a lawyer and chartered public accountant, making her invaluable to the ecosystem given blockchain tax and accounting issues are grounded on underlying novel legal issues. She and the team work directly with Web3 developers and marketers, use UX design and project management software, and lead both legal and commercial negotiations.

As a Web3 company leader and tax academic from the Philippines, Nadaine is committed to harnessing blockchain and fintech to enhance remittances and payments, financial inclusion and content creator empowerment. The Philippines is the world’s most important market for non-fungible token (NFT) gaming adoption and one of the world’s largest remittance markets given its overseas worker population. Nadaine is also committed to developing more female Web3 leaders and leaders from emerging markets.

Atlas Development General Counsel Isabel Guidote-Pangalangan won “Young Lawyer of the Year” and “Fintech Lawyer of the Year” in Asia Legal Business Philippine Law Awards 2022. Regionally, the legal team under Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer Oscar Franklin Tan was also a finalist for ALB South East Asia Law Awards 2024 In-House Team of the Year and Blockchain In-House Team of the Year, and ALB Pan Asian Regulatory Awards 2024 Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) Team of the Year, alongside leading Web3 companies Ripple, Crypto.com and Anchorage Digital.

The team was also added to Legal 500 GC Powerlist in October 2023. This is the world’s most prestigious recognition for company lawyers and includes teams from tech giants such as Microsoft and Google and Southeast Asian tech unicorns such as Grab and GoTo.