Looking forward to a new paradigm of interaction between technology and business compliance,
A conversation with Chrissy Hill, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Parity
Back in 2014, Dr. Gavin Wood, founder of the Web3 Foundation and Polkadot, coined the term “Web3” to describe a decentralized, trustless, serverless Internet where users control their own data, identity, and destiny. When we started talking about decentralization, the concept meant different things to many people and provided a different technical cognitive framework. “Due to the long-term concentration of technical power, Web3 innovative services and project expectations have been hindered from development, so seeking a balance has become a realistic requirement” , which is one of the missions and visions pursued by decentralization.
Understand the factors affecting decentralization and balance the actual needs
With the concept of decentralization, we can examine the multiple factors that influence the realization of decentralization. The first is related to computing . The number of computing nodes in the world affects the distribution of decentralized information. The second is related to governance . How to vote on tasks to be completed in the developer community is very important. The other two are the relevant value of intellectual property rights , which affects the use and promotion of products. In fact, it is the five factors that affect decentralization that have driven the large-scale adoption and popularization of early users and developers in the ecosystem , and are also the development goals that many technology product founders want to achieve.
"From my personal perspective, as the chief legal officer, how to balance the relationship between decentralization and regulation is a practical need . In many cases, the more decentralized it is, the more valuable it is in the eyes of many regulators because it is not controlled by a few individuals." As Chrissy Hill shared at the Polkadot Decoded Asia 2024 conference, the mission of Web3 is to bring technological value and real dividends to billions of users. For all industry builders, it is necessary to develop more innovative and fair new business paradigms that support the digital economy , provide equal and fair opportunities for everyone in an environment of global participation and transparent governance, meet the growing goals of user data rights, and strive to make Web3 projects innovate while complying with environmental regulatory rules and continuing to be industry pioneers . This is the important expectation of the public.
Drive the spirit of explorers and seek inclusive and open regulatory formats
For Chrissy Hill, finding the exact meaning and practical significance of decentralization is not a matter of one day or one night. It is also an important result of her research on a series of propositions such as economics and technology in the past 22 years. Through understanding technical concepts and terminology, I hope to make more ordinary people accept what is going on in technological development and project ecology, and resonate with more people at the moment when the digital economy is highly developed. After all, Web3 is an industry that attaches great importance to inclusiveness, so many open discourses and individuals can find development directions in this world . Then, from Chrissy Hill's personal experience, running at the forefront of legal supervision and the financial industry has also allowed her to find a way to contribute to the Polkadot ecosystem and opened a new chapter in her career.
After leaving her private practice, Chrissy Hill embarked on a career in compliance. “Compliance is not a stagnant position, it is one that is constantly evolving and innovating, finding new ways of regulation through creative exploration . This is in line with the explorer spirit that everyone of us who enters Web3 is looking for. The feeling that we can change the future world through our active contributions today inspires us to join the developer community,” said Chrissy Hill.
Innovation ahead of regulations, building a trusted development community
In the past two and a half years, Chrissy Hill has been very pleased to find that more and more fresh perspectives have emerged in the Web3 industry and the Polkadot ecosystem, which shows that the Polkadot ecosystem is developing in an optimistic direction that will benefit more people , and that more people will see that a freer and more open ecosystem is taking shape. Speaking of the current regulatory status of Web3, there have been many changes in regulatory policies and regulations throughout Europe over the past two years , but at the same time, clearer and more advanced management regulations sometimes do not hinder the development of Web3, but instead become a beneficial strategy for balancing business budgets and compliance costs . "For example, Brazil, which allows income tax to be paid with digital assets, is a good example. Even if the tax amount is sometimes high, it can still be included in the business plan and obtain the corresponding jurisdiction management. Real-world assets and NFTs can give users more dividends and meaning in a compliant manner on creative protocols ."
Therefore, Chrissy Hill believes that good regulation can promote technological innovation, and bad regulation will stop any innovative experiments . "The goal of regulation is to hope that more groups with similar values can organize project operations and development practices in an orderly manner under the premise of complying with social morality and ethics, rather than monitoring and monitoring all behaviors. In this process, how to build an efficient and trustworthy community becomes particularly important." In fact, this is also the idea conveyed by Chrissy Hill at Polkadot Decoded Asia 2024. The new solution driven by the community to provide feedback and decision-making for developers is the preferred path to balance the innovation and business development of Web3 projects. At present, Polkadot is also actively mobilizing the enthusiasm and participation of developers through developer community activities and conferences, and providing support and help for a more active community atmosphere .
Innovation ahead of regulations, building a trusted development community
At present, Polkadot's efforts in regulation are still obvious to all. Against the backdrop of constant turmoil in the crypto world, the Web3 Foundation began to actively communicate with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as early as 2019. After three years of hard work, the Web3 Foundation has announced that the native digital asset DOT of the Polkadot blockchain is no longer certified as a security, but as software ; in November 2022, it was officially announced that the native digital asset DOT of the Polkadot blockchain has undergone a "Token transformation."
Over the past long period of time, Polkadot has held more than 50 team meetings with the SEC. In the process, they gradually reached a preliminary idea on how to build a safer and freer regulatory method . "Only by incorporating the aspect of regulation into the dialogue with the technical team can they better understand the goals and direction of the technical team and focus on sustainable and open development plans. Through the comparative analysis of a series of development data, we have outlined the ideal Polkadot ecological vision along the technology roadmap . I believe that this day will have a new stage of breakthrough in 2026," Chrissy Hill said.
