Legal Dilemmas and Strategies for Web3 Practitioners

In today's rapidly developing landscape of virtual currencies and blockchain technology, the Web3 industry has attracted a large number of talents. This emerging field offers practitioners enticing conditions such as high salaries and remote work, but it also brings uncertainties in legal aspects. Many Web3 practitioners have doubts about the legitimacy of their work, especially when faced with domestic policies and regulations.

Although the Web3 industry does not yet have clear legal regulations in the country, this does not mean that related activities are completely free from legal risks. In fact, there have already been several criminal cases involving Web3 business in judicial practice. This situation raises a key question: how to determine the legality of Web3-related activities in the absence of clear legal regulations?

The stability and lag of the law make it difficult to respond promptly to the development of emerging industries. However, this does not mean that law enforcement agencies cannot crack down on illegal activities in emerging fields. When judging whether Web3-related activities constitute a crime, judicial authorities usually look beyond appearances to analyze the essence of the behavior rather than solely relying on its superficial form.

Taking the perpetual contract business of a certain exchange being recognized as the crime of operating a casino as an example, the key lies in its specific business model rather than the perpetual contracts themselves. The high leverage "mad contracts" offered by the exchange and the behavior of gambling against users were determined by the court to be essentially no different from gambling. This indicates that even in areas without explicit legal provisions, judicial authorities can qualitatively assess behaviors based on the existing legal framework.

For Web3 practitioners, it is important to abandon the ostrich mentality and proactively understand the legal risks that may be involved in their actions. When consulting a lawyer, one should focus on understanding the legal boundaries of the relevant actions and the risk assessment standards in judicial practice, rather than simply arguing the literal meaning of legal texts.

Everyone has different risk tolerances, so when making career choices, it is essential to fully understand the potential legal risks, foresee possible worst-case scenarios, and then make informed decisions. Only in this way can one seize opportunities while avoiding risks in the Web3 space, which is full of opportunities but also uncertainties, to achieve long-term career development.