Overview

Web3 peaked in hype around 2021 and 2022, then the term fell out of fashion, but DAOs, DeFi and smart contracts still generate real disputes and deals. This practical course gives lawyers a clear, jargon-free grounding in the legal questions they raise, and how the UK, the EU and the UAE are responding, as at September 2026. Four short units, general awareness only.

Learning Objectives

Upon course completion, employees will gain a full and clear understanding of:

• What wallets, tokens, decentralised apps, DAOs and DeFi actually are, and why "Web3" fell out of fashion as a term
• Who can be held liable in a decentralised system when no single company is formally in charge
• Whether a DAO has legal personality, and what that means for its individual members
• Why a smart contract executing code is not automatically an enforceable legal agreement
• Governing law and jurisdiction questions for a system that runs everywhere and nowhere in particular
• Why the same token can be classified differently in different jurisdictions
• How the UK, the EU and the UAE each regulate DeFi and decentralised structures
• The tension between data protection law and an immutable ledger, and the leading practical solution
• Consumer protection and fraud risks in decentralised systems

Course Contents

Unit 1: What People Mean by Web3

• The Web3 hype cycle, and what actually survived it
• Wallets, tokens, decentralised apps, DAOs and DeFi, in plain terms
• Why any of this raises legal questions when no single company is in charge
• The gap between the decentralisation promise and how these systems actually operate

Unit 2: DAOs and Legal Personality

• The Law Commission of England and Wales's 2024 scoping paper and its three DAO categories
• What happens to individual members when a DAO has no legal personality
• CFTC v Ooki DAO: the leading real example of personal liability for DAO governance
• The UAE's foundation structures as a practical legal wrapper

Unit 3: Smart Contracts, Enforceability and Jurisdiction

• What a smart contract is, and why code performing an action is not automatically a binding contract
• The Law Commission's 2021 advice on smart legal contracts under English law
• Governing law and jurisdiction when a system runs everywhere and nowhere in particular

• A practical checklist for advising on a smart-contract-based arrangement

Unit 4: Tokens, DeFi Regulation and Data Protection

• Why token classification varies by jurisdiction: security, commodity, currency or utility token
• How the UK, the EU and the UAE are each regulating DeFi
• Data protection versus an immutable ledger, and off-chain storage with on-chain hashing
• Consumer protection, fraud risks and red flags in decentralised systems

Note

This is a general awareness course, not legal advice. It does not recommend buying, holding or investing in any token or digital asset. Learners should take their own legal advice on their specific circumstances. Content is current as at September 2026.