Dynamic Compliance Guidelines for the Cardano Network

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Alexander Smart

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

100000

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We will build and maintain a wiki-style source for compliance information, including creating a vetted international network of compliance professionals.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

Subject matter experts: The basis of this project is to build a network of external consultants in countries identified during the “research and analysis” phase, who will help build the wiki.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

The output would be a wiki in the form of a static website. The copyright license used for the content of the wiki would be similar to the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA), which is also used by Wikipedia.

[METADATA] Horizons

Legal

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Our project aims to create a comprehensive and continuously updated set of compliance guidelines tailored specifically for the Cardano Network. These guidelines will cover a wide range of legal, financial, and technical aspects necessary for operating within various jurisdictions worldwide. The guidelines will be designed to assist individuals and organizations in navigating the complexities of compliance in a global context.

Project Objectives:

• Develop a dynamic and up-to-date compliance framework for the Cardano Network.
• Create country-specific guidelines that address local laws, regulations, and exceptions.
• Identify and document common pitfalls and provide strategies to avoid them.
• Ensure guidelines are accessible and understandable for all stakeholders.
• Build a network of vetted professionals with expertise and experience in the Cardano ecosystem to help teams deal with their specific compliance issues.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Providing comprehensive legal guidance will help direct those building on Cardano, in addition to directing the Cardano Foundation’s internal operations. 

Because we are dedicated to positively impacting the broader global Cardano ecosystem, we offer a Japanese translation of this proposal, as well. 

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

We have a diverse team of experts with decades of experience.

Team Composition:

1. Legal Experts:

• Specialize in international law and compliance.

1. Accountants and CFOs:

• Ensure financial regulations and reporting standards are met.

1. Crypto-Currency Developers:

• Provide technical expertise on blockchain and cryptocurrency regulations.

1. Advisors:

• Offer strategic insights and best practices for compliance specific to relevant countries.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1 - Initial research and stakeholder engagement.

Conduct thorough research on legal and financial requirements for each country. This research will include conducting a community vote on the top 10 countries with which to start. Another part of this would be conducting polls to find a network of advisors in each local area of interest. Upon completion of this milestone, we will provide a comprehensive report based on our findings, including an initial list of experts. 

Milestone 2: Drafting and initial review of guidelines.

Engage with local legal and financial experts to ensure accuracy. The goal is to build a reliable network of international advisors over time, for long-term collaboration. The output would be a public static website containing the form of articles, we anticipate needing approximately 30 pages per country.

Milestone 3: Implementation of update system.

Provide step-by-step instructions for implementing changes, as they become applicable.

Milestone 4 - Develop a process for ongoing updates and final review.

The end product will be a website that allows users to access checklists, in-depth explanations of how to meet the requirements outlined in those checklists and information about how to contact our international network of advisors.

Final Milestone - Final project report.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Alexander Smart, Lawyer

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandersmart

https://github.com/ChiLaBo

Alexander has always thought fast, but learned to think deep and sharp at UChicago. After studying law at Pepperdine, he spent nearly fifteen years guiding executives and decision makers through litigation, in matters ranging from shoplifting and speeding tickets to multi-forum international investment bank disputes. His practice honed his ability to quickly assimilate and master new information, and deliver that information clearly at any level of sophistication. Tiring of courthouses, he found his skills were readily applicable and desperately needed in the blockchain space. 

Peter Hubshman, Chief Financial Officer

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterhubshman

Peter is a finance and operations expert focusing on early round startups. With origins in private equity, fund management and leveraged buyouts, in the early 2000’s he operated Internet Real Estate Group, a Web 2.0 studio in Boston which successfully developed businesses including Creditcards.com; Phone.com; Luggage.com; Jeans.com and a dozen other early primary domain businesses. There, his pioneering team of engineers created some of the earliest successful affiliate marketing and advertising platforms on the Internet, and were early experts in search engine optimization. 

Zoe Braiterman, 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoebraiterman

https://github.com/zbraiterman

https://twitter.com/zbraiterman

Zoe Braiterman has experience ranging from cyber security, data science and system architecture to product development. Passionate about helping startups to scale, she also has experience as a teacher and business manager. Her work as a security consultant has included diversity and education initiatives. She has contributed to various Internet working groups with the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) and the Threat Modeling Manifesto. 

François-René Rideau, Software Architect and Security Expert 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fahree

https://github.com/fare

https://twitter.com/phanaero

François-René has extensive experience building on Cardano.

François-René has been making programming languages and distributed systems usable for 25 years. Alumnus of the École Normale Supérieure, Former Senior Engineer at ITA Software, he also worked at Google and Bridgewater Associates. While working in the industry, he notably maintained and rewrote ASDF, the build system at the heart of the Common Lisp open source community; he also kept publishing academic papers and speaking at programming language conferences. 

Gauthier Lamothe, Communications and Language Translation Expert

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gauthier-lamothe

Gauthier has participated in a few blockchain projects, for entities such as the Free Republic of Liberland (that recently started using Polkadot), and worked on decentralized justice systems, tokenization of governance, and of course crypto-currencies.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Sourcing and Qualifying Expert Network in 10 countries & 50 states - 45,000 ADA

Website Design and Development - 5,000 ADA

Legal and Financial Consultations - 30,000 ADA

Translation expenses - 15,000 ADA

Miscellaneous Expenses - 5,000 ADA

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The legal framework we propose to provide will be highly adaptive and useful to multiple stakeholders in the Cardano ecosystem.