Legal Nodes is happy to be supporting the Interchain Builders Program on its mission to support projects building in the Interchain guiding them through the obstacles of the legal landscape to successfully incorporate their projects.
Summary
The Interchain Builders Program supports founders building on top of the Interchain Stack. Legal Nodes has partnered with the program to provide legal support to the program’s participants. With Legal Nodes’ help, participants will delve into the legal side of their project, to better understand the different regulations that may affect their business model and their token design. Participants will also explore the best practices of legal structures for Web3 and crypto-friendly jurisdictions for their projects.
In collaborating together, the Interchain Builders Program and Legal Nodes will be able to support participants by:
- Empowering them with important and relevant knowledge on regulation that is most applicable to and impactful on their projects
- Helping them understand what key questions they should be asking when establishing a legal framework for their project
- Helping them to navigate around different legal strategies and build action plans for their projects using the latest best practices in Web3 law
- Discovering optimal legal frameworks for their projects, by tapping into the knowledge pool of the Legal Nodes Network, which has Web3 specialists in over 20 crypto-friendly jurisdictions
About the Interchain Builders Program
The Interchain Builders Program is on a mission to help new Web3 projects launch a new chain from idea to mainnet. It provides mentorship, structured support, and guidance for teams who build chains in the Interchain, using at least one component of the Interchain Stack: CometBFT, CosmosSDK, IBC, and CosmWasm. The program launched in June 2022 and that year it helped over 30 projects. 18 new teams have been onboarded for Q1 of 2023.
The program’s support modules include:
- Incorporation & Fundraising
- Token Design & Token Distribution
- Technical & Product Support
- Launch & Validator Bootstrapping
- Marketing & Community
- Partnership & Ecosystem Navigation
The legal challenges early-stage Web3 startups face
Why would these projects need legal support? What challenges might they face?
In the early stages of Web3 project development, it is crucial to understand the legal needs of the project and lay the foundations for an effective legal structure.
Web3 projects going through the Interchain Builders Program are likely to encounter the following legal challenges and questions:
- Which current and future regulations apply to the project and its business model?
- How might regulations impact what the business model looks like?
- How can regulations impact the future protocol-native token?
- What risks are posed by regulation non-compliance? How serious are these risks and what measures might be taken to mitigate them?
- Can certain regulations be “helpful” to the project? Can they support or encourage a project’s growth?
- What should the legal structure of the project look like? Are legal entities (i.e. DevLab, Token SPV, DAO Company) necessary?
- What are the crypto-friendly jurisdictions for registering legal entities for the project? Which legal entities are most suitable for the project?
- Do you need different legal entities for different purposes, or is one legal entity enough?
- What’s the best way to legally structure pre-seed and seed fundraising for a project?
How Legal Nodes helps
Legal Nodes supports the Builders Program participants by:
- Providing legal strategy sessions. These sessions are held by our Head of Web3 Legal and help founders navigate around different regulations which might apply to their project, and learn about the best practices for legal structuring, available in today’s market.
- Structuring legal needs into legal works. After the initial legal sessions are done, founders have more clarity over what their legal needs actually are. We can then transform them into legal tasks onto our platform. These tasks may include things like obtaining a legal opinion, registering a company, and drafting legal agreements with key team members. Each task is assigned to a qualified legal provider, situated in the jurisdiction which is most suitable for the legal works.
- Managing legal tasks by using Virtual Legal Officers. If founders are ready to start working on their legal tasks, we assign them a Virtual Legal Officer (VLO). This specially trained individual acts as a project manager and quality assurance checkpoint. The VLO ensures all tasks are completed by the service providers on the Legal Nodes platform. They also help to continuously clarify the program participant’s needs and provide ongoing support. They handle all communications with service providers, whilst ensuring that the project stays compliant with all applicable regulations.
Legal Nodes provides critical support at the key early stage of Web3 startups’ journey on the program; the Incorporation & Fundraising stage.
Feedback loops and future plans
So, what does the future look like for the Interchain Builders Program and Legal Nodes? We’re keen to continue working together, helping the program’s current and subsequent cohorts build the future of Web3. We’ll use feedback from participants to fine-tune our role in this partnership and to make our resource center –which is open to everyone– even better.
If you’re interested in partnering with Legal Nodes, you can write to us at hello@leganodes.com or fill out this form to learn more about how our platform works, and how we could work together.
