Biography

Jess Cheng is a Partner at Sidley Austin where she represents clients on all aspects of payments law and regulatory matters critical to designing and bringing new payment solutions to market, as well as strategically mitigating risks. She advises companies across the payments ecosystem, including payment systems, stablecoin networks, fintech companies, digital marketplaces, neobanks, technology service providers, and crypto and blockchain enterprises. Previously, she was a partner in Wilson Sonsini’s Corporate Practice, where she represented fintech clients on sophisticated regulatory, transactional, and product development projects involving financial services.

Prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Cheng served as Senior Counsel at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where she spearheaded the drafting of modernized payment regulations and analysis of novel activities such as those related to crypto assets.  She also worked with congressional staff on stablecoin legislation and central bank digital currencies.  Cheng also served as Counsel for the International Monetary Fund, where she advised on the Fund’s fintech work agenda and was the lead expert in payments and digital assets.  Earlier in her career, she was Deputy General Counsel at Ripple, Counsel and Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and an Associate at Wachtell Lipton.

Cheng received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her B.A. from Yale University.