Best country to start crypto protocol.
I think ultimately, whether you are doing right thing for public goods or not, is the only things for you to consider, but less friction with jurisdiction means your project/protocol will be well accepted from vast majority people and secure easy continuity of activities, so I think I need to gather as many information as possible on which country is best, but failed to found out consolidated information of best practice, while how to consider exists.
That is why I am starting to accumulate information here. I am going to keep these info. up-to-date as possible, but please notify me when you have found flaws. Sharing information is always welcomed.
Legal entity of famous projects
When it comes to legal entity, crypto protocols need to consider what kind of entity is best for them. As far as I have seen, there is 2 types of history of groups that serve for protocols.
- 2 types of groups that serve for protocols
- Corporation becomes DAO.
- DAO needs legal entity.
Former is going to become DAO for diversificaiton and transforms their legal entity. Latter is going to establish legal entity for coverting all or some part of their activities.
Most information I have collected is from Privacy Policy or Terms of Use, so I guess these legal entity is for B2C (i.e. facing protocol-to-people), so probability is high to exist another entity for B2B.
| # | Protocol | Legal entity | Country resides | Reference | date of reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uniswap | Uniswap Labs | NY, US | https://www.linkedin.com/company/uniswaporg/about/ | 2022/6/12 |
| 2 | Compound | Compound Labs Inc | CA, US | https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1620454D:US | 2022/6/12 |
| 3 | Curve | None (probably) | - | https://gov.curve.fi/tos | 2022/6/11 |
| 4 | Aave | Avara UI Labs Ltd | Cayman Islands | https://aave.com/privacy-policy/ | 2022/6/11 |
| 5 | MakerDAO | Maker Ecosystem Growth Holdings, Inc | Cayman Islands | https://makerdao.com/en/privacy/ | 2022/6/11 |
| 6 | MakerDAO | MakerDAO Bank Participation Trust | Delaware, US | https://thedefiant.io/makerdao-bank-deal-dai-loans/ | 2022/6/11 |
| 7 | InstaDApp | InstaDApp Labs LLC | Delaware, US | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/instadapp | 2022/6/11 |
| 8 | LIDO | DeFi Ltd. | Cayman Islands | https://lido.fi/privacy-notice | 2022/6/12 |
| 10 | Eular | The Euler Foundation | Cayman Islands | https://www.euler.finance/terms/#terms | 2022/6/12 |
| 11 | Nexus Mutual | Collective Risk Services CIC | UK | https://nexusmutual.io/pages/Terms-of-Use.pdf | 2022/6/12 |
| 12 | Polkadot | Web 3.0 Technologies Foundation | Switzerland | https://polkadot.network/privacy/ | 2022/6/12 |
| - | Maple Finance | Maple Labs Pty Ltd | Australia | https://maplefinance.gitbook.io/maple/additional-links/privacy-policy#information-collection-and-tracking-technologies | 2022/6/11 |
| - | CityDAO | CityDAO LLC | Wyoming, US | https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_wy/2021-001023598 | 2022/6/11 |
| - | CitaDAO | CitaDAO Protocol Limited | British Virgin Islands | https://docs.citadao.io/intro/privacy#what-information-we-collect | 2022/6/11 |
| - | Babylon Finance | Babylon DAO Inc. | Panama | https://www.babylon.finance/terms | 2022/6/11 |
| - | Paxos | Paxos Trust Company | NY, US | https://paxos.com/2019/03/29/privacy-policy/# | 2023/3/22 |
| - | Paxos | Paxos Global Pte. Ltd | Singapore | https://paxos.com/2019/03/29/privacy-policy/# | 2023/3/22 |
| - | Paxos | Paxos Technology Limited | UK | https://paxos.com/2019/03/29/privacy-policy/# | 2023/3/22 |
| - | Sun Invest | Sun Labs AG | Switzerland | https://www.suninvest.com/ | 2023/3/22 |
| - | Bitrefill | AIRFILL PREPAID AB | Sweden | https://www.bitrefill.com/terms/?hl=en | 2024/1/19 |
| - | Bitrefill | Bitrefill ES | Sweden | https://www.bitrefill.com/terms/?hl=en | 2024/1/19 |
| - | Bitrefill | AIRFILL PREPAID AB | El Salvador | https://www.bitrefill.com/terms/?hl=en | 2024/1/19 |
| - | Bitrefill | Airfill US LLC | Delaware, US | https://www.bitrefill.com/terms/?hl=en | 2024/1/19 |
| - | Banxa | EU Internet Ventures B.V. | Amsterdam Netherlands etc | https://banxa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Banxa-Customer-Terms-and-Conditions-30-October-2023-BANXA.pdf | 2024/2/19 |
Besides practice above, there is good reading to consider legal structure of DAO.
- Legal Framework for DAOs
- https://twitter.com/milesjennings/status/1532429974128689152
- I guess this is for US citizens so we should recognize each entity resides in US by default, and “foreign” means “outside of US”.
- https://twitter.com/milesjennings/status/1532429974128689152
Voices from people lives in
Bankless held good Q&A.
Where’s the best place to live for crypto? https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/wheres-the-best-place-to-live-for/comments?s=r