Columbia Lawyer

Carolina Rios

Carolina Rios is an international crypto regulatory strategist and Web3 legal architect with over a decade of experience advising blockchain ecosystems, virtual asset markets, and emerging technology ventures across the UAE, Asia, and Latin America.

She holds a PhD in International Law from Korea University, where her doctoral research produced the first comparative legal study on the regulation of crypto assets across jurisdictions. After thirteen years in Seoul — including roles at Kaia (L1 by Kakao), Korea's largest blockchain ecosystem, and Korea University's Trade Law Center — she relocated her practice to Dubai, where she founded SAJA Legal Consultants.

Her work operates at the intersection of legal architecture and regulatory design. She advises Layer 1 protocols, DLT foundations, institutional market participants, and virtual asset service providers on regulatory frameworks including VARA, ADGM, DIFC, and MiCA, cross-border foundation structuring, token governance, and licensing strategy. Her clients are institutions and ecosystems that require legal architecture capable of operating under sustained regulatory scrutiny.