Tonya M. Evans is an attorney, author, educator, and strategic advisor at the intersection of law, technology, and finance. She is the Founder and CEO of Advantage Evans Global Regulatory Strategies, where she provides compliance advisory and executive education services for financial institutions, fintech companies, and regulatory bodies navigating the digital asset economy.
Tonya serves on the Board of Directors of Digital Currency Group (DCG), one of the world's most influential blockchain investment firms, and previously served as Chairperson of the Maker Ecosystem Growth Foundation, leading governance and regulatory strategy for one of the most significant decentralized finance protocols in the ecosystem. She testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets and has advised regulators including the Central Bank of Nigeria and Ghana's Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of Ghana on virtual asset service provider (VASP) frameworks.
Her academic career spans nearly two decades across three law schools. She served as a tenured Full Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law (2020–2025), where she also held a joint appointment with the Penn State Institute for Computational & Data Sciences. As Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law (2017–2020), she created and directed the first Blockchain, Cryptocurrency & Law Online Certificate Program at any U.S. law school. Earlier, she spent a decade at Widener University Commonwealth Law School as Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Inclusion & Equity (2008–2017), teaching Intellectual Property, Wills, Trusts & Estates, and Entertainment Law. She currently maintains an adjunct appointment at Penn State Dickinson Law.
Before entering academia, Tonya practiced law in Philadelphia — clerking for the Honorable Theodore McKee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, then working at Pepper Hamilton LLP and Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in trusts and estate planning before founding her own firm, TME Law & Evans Borden Evans, LLC, where she advised clients on intellectual property, entertainment law, and municipal finance.
Tonya is a Forbes Contributor covering fintech, intellectual property, and leadership, and hosts "Confidently Crypto" on SiriusXM's Financially Speaking podcast. She is the author of Digital Money Demystified: Go From Cash to Crypto Safely, Legally and Confidently and Electing Crypto, as well as earlier titles for writers and creatives including Copyright Companion for Writers, Contracts Companion for Writers, and Literary Law Guide for Authors. Her scholarly contributions include a chapter on blockchain and the disintermediation of music in the Oxford Handbook of Music Law and Policy.
Committed to supporting the next generation of lawyers and professionals entering the digital economy, Tonya founded Web3 Ready, an initiative dedicated to equipping law students and lawyers with the knowledge, skills, and strategic positioning needed to thrive in fintech, blockchain, and digital asset practice areas. The initiative includes Beyond the JD, a summer cohort-based program designed to help legal professionals accelerate their transition into the Web3 economy (ProfTonyaEvans.com/beyondthejd).
Tonya earned her J.D. cum laude from Howard University School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal, and her B.S. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University on a full four-year athletic scholarship in tennis. She is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and New York.