Cardano Lawyer / Advocacy (DLT360)

[IMPACT]

I am proposing to lead the setup of a legal think tank/advocacy group in Brussels, covering the European market and European legislation that relate to stakeholders in the crypto-industry.

Apart from lobbying efforts, legal industry research, publications, it would also treat legal questions by the Cardano community. Via this think tank, I (together with DLT 360) can collect knowledge and knowhow about legal and regulatory topics that are important for the Cardano industry.

I will gather colleagues and crypto-experts in many fields to discuss pending legislative matters. We will provide the industry with practical analysis and guidebooks of recent legal and regulatory changes and developments, and of their effects. We can be a single point of contact between the industry and the regulator.

As a Brussel-based European Tech lawyer with 10Y XP in tech law, and author of several legal crypto- publications (since 2015, see links below), I am well placed and networked in Brussels to find the rights people for our organisation.

I will have an "office day" per week where people can call or mail me, setup video-conferences to ask their questions. I will keep timesheets to show the community about the kind of work I do. Legal questions and answers will be anonymized (no company info or personal data) and made available to the Cardano community, for their own benefit.

I also have a large network of lawyers around the world which I could bring you into contact with if you have specific legal questions in a jurisdiction outside of the EU.

*** Article about crypto and taxation - https://www.stibbe.com/~/media/03%20news/newsletters/brussels/benelux%20ict%20law%20newsletter%20-%20n52%20-%20dec%202015.pdf

*** Article in the magazine computer law about bitcoin and regulations in EU - https://www.stibbe.com/~/media/03%20news/publications/brussels/mvr%20-%20quo%20vadis%20bitcoin.pdf

I believe that a lobby group/think thank in Europe that focusses on crypto-related questions from industry participants and works to communicate the interest of the industry with legislators in Europe, would address the proposed challenge of lobbying for favorable legislation.

Challenge:

• find right stakeholders in Europe to join the effort
• prioritize legal issues that are relevant for the industry, as there are so many topics I could work on

Risks:

• sufficient impact on legislator
• legislator's inherent bias against the crypto industry

[FEASIBILITY]

As a Brussel-based European Tech lawyer with 10Y XP in tech law, and author of several legal crypto- publications, I am well placed and networked in Brussels to find the rights people for our organisation.

Details of the first quarter plan/timeline, which will then be repeated 4x per year with different publication topics or different kinds of events:

Month 1:

• setup office
• publication on smart contracts and hybrid legal smart contracts (part of DLT 360) - ongoing
• first 2 office days for legal questions by Cardano projects

Month 2:

• publication of roadmap with legal topics to work on, and poll for the industry to vote which topics to start working on first
• setting up initial meetings with other industry participants
• working on first event for Q1
• additional 2 office days for legal questions by Cardano projects

Month 3:

• (hybrid or virtual) Events, meetups, seminars on interesting (legal and regulatory) topic chosen by industry (potentially on DAOs, as I received many questions).
• Reporting on the quarter, setting up the FAQ/blog
• Setting up a monthly newsletter with interesting industry info
• Quarterly SWARM session office hour to discuss legal concerns of the community

Use of proceeds during year 1 to setup and manage the organisation:

1. (hybrid or virtual) Events, meetups, seminars on interesting (legal and regulatory) topics such as (hybrid) smart contracts, DAO's, financial legislation (3/4 per year, each quarter) - approx EUR 8.000

2. (virtual) Office location (mailbox, year 1) - 132 EUR/month x 12 - EUR - approx. EUR 2.400

3. Personal time Michiel Van Roey for project management, legal questions of Cardano-companies (catalyst) with activities in Europe, lobby work, setting up network, drafting research papers, working on the DLT 360 risk and opportunity radar for legal and regulatory know-how collection (2-3 day/month at 800/day). I will work 2/3 days per month (almost a day per week) for the Cardano community on all legal and regulatory matters that can be relevant for them. I will either write knowledge to be used by the community, or I will be available for questions - EUR 24.000 (available for a full year, with 1 month holiday)

34.400 EUR converted to USD --> USD 37.966,00

Apart from my own time, I will be working together with DLT 360 team (Heinz, Jonas, Mauro)

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

In addition, for questions in relation to taxation, I would work with my wife who is an expert tax lawyer - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-bihain-37968795/

[AUDITABILITY]

I will have an "office day" per week where people can call or mail me, setup video-conferences to ask their questions. I will keep timesheets to show the community about the kind of work I do.

I will publish practical analysis and guidebooks of recent legal and regulatory changes and developments on a periodical basis, and setup 4 meetups per year to discuss legal topics that people want to know more about. https://www.dlt360consulting.com/

I will publish questions and answers form the industry.

Apart from that, I will do the necessary reporting as part of Project Catalyst:

1. 2-weekly updates to other Cardano proposers via the Catalyst coordinator call
2. 2-weekly updates in our "Cardano projects" newsletter (register via our website https://ico.profila.com)
3. Monthly project process and KPI reports submitted to Catalyst teams and available to the public for verification.
4. Quarterly Swarm session office hour (at end of townhall) for a Question and Answer session about our funded projects.

My 1/day per week office day filled with questions from the Cardano community.

Regular (practical) publications with info for the Cardano community.

Meetups each quarter where important industry-experts and people from EU institutions share knowledge about crypto-related regulatory and legislative work.

Initially voted as part of the funded projects under the same challenge under fund 7, but the remaining budget (of 13.000 USD) was just not enough to fund the budget I had in the proposal. This shows the community wants the project. Now that the size of the budget is larger, I hope to receive the funds under fund 8.

See proposal here:

https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/384226