POLKADOT.LAW – Legal Investigation & Framework for the Polkadot DAO

Proposer:
SOFTLAW S.A. DE C.V.
A legal technology company focused on designing legal infrastructure for decentralized protocols and creating compliance bridges between on-chain governance and off-chain legal systems.

Problem Statement:
The Polkadot ecosystem currently lacks a coherent legal framework that enables DAO agents and bounties to enter into enforceable agreements with corporations, institutions, and governments. This legal deficiency constrains the ability of the ecosystem to engage in traditional legal relationships, weakening both its credibility and capacity to scale public goods and services.

Proposal Summary:
This proposal seeks funding to conduct a 6-month legal investigation for the Polkadot DAO.

The investigation will examine DAO structures, applicable case law, comparative legal models, and international enforcement risks and tools. The principal objective is to articulate a legally strategy for protecting public goods within the Polkadot ecosystem and ensuring referenda and treasury actions can be treated, where appropriate, as legally binding agreements.

Polkadot.law will serve as a neutral, public good.

Deliverable:
Legal Analysis of the Polkadot DAO

Milestones:

1. Legal Analysis of DAO Structures: Examination of legal entities available under U.S. law that could be used to incorporate the Polkadot DAO.
2. Recognition of Treasury Proposals as Legal Agreements: Legal assessment of treasury proposals as enforceable contracts. This includes the potential incorporation of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, such as ICC arbitration clauses, and a legal framework to address cases where treasury-funded deliverables are not fulfilled.
3. Commercial Use Cases and Contract Drafting: Legal analysis of three core commercial activities (KOL & Marketing Services Agreement, IRL Events Services Agreement, Software Development Agreement) within the Polkadot ecosystem and delivery of three contract templates under international private law.

Publication and Licensing:
The final report will be published under an open license and made available through: The domain www.polkadot.law as a public comment in the respective on-chain referenda discussion

Optional Follow-up (Not included in this proposal):

• A DAO incorporation framework and internal governance design.
• A legal documentation toolkit and interactive legal resource hub.

These potential future efforts will be pursued only upon further consultation with the community and the evaluation of the present report.

Timeline
The work will be structured into three milestones over a total period of six months. Each milestone will be delivered every two months.

Alignment with the Polkadot Ecosystem
This proposal supports the Polkadot ecosystem’s commitment to decentralized governance, public goods funding, and neutrality.

Budget
$50,000

Contact:
wario@soft.law
@wario_mx:matrix.org