Standardized legal framework — default agreements

Post-COVID 2020 New World Order

Mars Robertson
Island DAO
5 min readAug 11, 2020

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“I feel closer to Ethereum than my home country”

The world has moved

Are we ready for the upgrade?

We have blockchain and AI, and we still use an ancient system. Democracy originates from ancient Greece.

🇺🇸 The United States has an unfair advantage

The USD is de-facto a default unit of international currency.

Standardization example: Delaware Corp C

Standardization example: YC SAFE

Much respect for simplicity and standardization.

🇲🇹 Malta has some innovation

The first country to recognize DAO as a legal entity.

🇪🇪 Estonia has some innovation

The first country to offer E-Residency.

Standardized legal agreements: https://startupestonia.ee/resources
Snippet from Convertible Instrument Agreement.

Do we really need to define “Signing Date”?

Do we really need to use 22 words for that definition?

Regulation

  • The Securities Market Act (SMA)
  • Credit Institutions Act (CIA)
  • Investment Funds Act (IFA)
  • Securities Register Maintenance Act (SRMA)
  • Advertising Act (AA)
  • Law of Obligations Act (LOA)
  • Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (MLTFPA)

That sounds pretty cool: SMA CIA IFA SRMA AA LOA MLTFPA KYC AML

There might be some clever workarounds, if the regulation is so complicated maybe we can skip it?

I can always start selling ebooks titled “how to legally raise funds in 2020 and other legal hacks”

Or maybe something different: offering advertising space in such ebook? I guess the advertising business is more scalable than publishing?

🇬🇧 UK has some bureaucracy

Personal example:

  • UK company
  • Headquarters in the UK
  • Office in the UK
  • Hiring the UK resident

Signing the employment contract: “the law of the UK applies” — that is borderline unnecessary, that should be assumed by default, UK company hiring UK resident to work in the UK can assume UK law by default.

Not only that but when dissolving the employment contract: “the law of the UK applies” too… My suggestion would be to set a DEFAULT RULE: “the same law is applicable for the entire duration of the contract”

Which law applies?

A Polish guy living in the UK hiring a web developer from India via freelancing website somewhere on the Internet and paying in Bitcoin

How do you resolve a dispute?

Surely they have some terms & conditions on the platform but realistically speaking the biggest recourse when something goes wrong is leaving a negative review.

Natural law

Loads of history and philosophical aspects:

We need something that is fit for purpose post-COVID New World Order:

  • Everything digital
  • Internet
  • Borderless
  • International
  • Trustless (you do not trust random dudes on the internet)

A unified network of Special Economic Zones to revive economy in fields other than tourism?

Public meeting to draft legislation in Wyoming: https://wyohackathon.io/selectcommittee.html

Push the services to the edges?

An example from the E-Estonia, you still need to have a registered agent in on the ground.

https://e-resident.gov.ee/marketplace/service-providers/ — BaseX is using services of the — https://nordicconsult.ee/en/

Or make them your core business

You can totally integrate all the opinionated software and make it your core business.

Cap table management: globacap.com

Court bundle management: bundledocs.com

Legal services: legalzoom.com

Example from the UK. Look at all the different forms. £1,500 + VAT minimum

Simple default agreements. Example.

Fit for purpose for the world that moved digital.

Jurisdiction-as-a-service.

Standardized global legal system. Blockchain accounting. Automatic taxation. Jurisdiction-as-a-service. Competitive governance

Estonia is a great example, standing on the shoulders of giants, let’s take it to the next level…

Let’s see what happens

See you at the Virtual Island Summit: https://www.islandinnovation.co/summit/

BaseX island in Estonia

We need $1m to buy our own island.

It’s easier than you think!

People are driven to visionary ideas…

Stay connected

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Mars Robertson
Island DAO

Creative force multiplier. Effective altruism, exponential technologies. Rational game theory incentives.