Legal services for the Web3 and new economy

Mankun Law Firm will participate in the first session of the Autumn 2027 Graduates Comprehensive Campus Recruitment Fair on September 23, 2026, from 13:30 to 15:30 at the Futian Gymnasium, Songjiang Campus, East China University of Political Science and Law. The booth will be open to students interested in new economy fields such as Web3, blockchain, AI and technology finance. Mankun's practice focuses on artificial intelligence, technology finance, the digital economy and corporate globalization, covering Web3 and blockchain, corporate compliance, cross-border business, dispute resolution and criminal defense. The article explains that this type of legal work often requires first understanding how a product operates, how transactions are completed and how a business enters the market, for example identifying legal issues before an AI product launches, understanding the rules for companies going global, and sorting out the transaction process and evidence in cases involving digital assets. For young legal professionals hoping to enter this field, a solid professional foundation, patience in understanding business and the ability to keep learning are all important, and they can start with researching rules, reading contracts and organizing evidence. Readers may bring their resumes to the event to discuss course research, internship experience and career direction, and to learn about the specific requirements and work content of the positions in this recruitment.

On September 7, 2026, the Supreme People's Court issued the Opinions on the Lawful Trial of Cases Involving Artificial Intelligence Disputes, comprising 24 articles and addressing personality rights and interests, model training, intellectual property, technology contracts, and litigation evidence, among other matters. The article interprets the Opinions from the perspective of commercial dispute resolution: Article 15 requires that, in contract disputes involving the development, transfer, or licensing of AI technology, liability for breach be determined by reference to the contract terms, the characteristics of research and development, and whether the developer exercised reasonable efforts; therefore, enterprises should specify at the time of contracting the maturity of functions, acceptance methods, risk allocation, and mechanisms for changes in requirements, and should use version records, test data, and issue lists to prove the actual research and development process. Article 12 requires developers, in a non-infringement defense, to provide the source of training data, records of the training process, the model's operating mode, and a scientific theoretical basis; however, the Supreme People's Court expressly states that it has not yet provided rules on how to characterize the use of others' works without authorization to train large models, and enterprises cannot infer that a general license has been obtained. Article 18 emphasizes the authenticity and integrity of electronic data, as well as the authenticity of data before it is recorded on a blockchain and the reli

The article examines the failure of the U.S. CLARITY Act to reach the 60-vote threshold in a Senate procedural vote: 49 votes in favor and 50 against, with all votes in favor coming from Republicans and no support from Democrats or independent senators; the House had previously passed it 294 to 134, and the Senate Banking Committee had advanced it 15 to 9. In the author's view, the reason for the failure was not insufficient concessions but path and trust: Republicans kept adding ethics provisions, yet the entry point for civil enforcement remains largely in the hands of the Attorney General, and state attorneys general can only sue the Attorney General for inaction under limited conditions. At the industry level, the essence of CLARITY is whether on-chain dollars can be recognized as an operable clearing system; its failure does not mean stablecoins are without rules, as the GENIUS Act was signed in July 2025 and the Treasury Department and the OCC are rolling out detailed rules; the market structure question still has no answer, and the XRP case shows that institutional sales and secondary market trading may yield different legal conclusions. For Asian teams, Hong Kong has issued its first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses; mainland entities are bound by the 2021 ten-department notice and the February 2026 Yinfa [2026] No. 42 document, and teams whose entity, clients, employees, and income and expenditures are all within the mainland are not affected by this round of Washington maneuvering

As the global regulatory environment continues to evolve, new economy businesses such as artificial intelligence, digital assets, cross-border payments and corporate globalization are entering real commercial scenarios, and the risk management issues facing enterprises have become more complex. LexisNexis® Risk Solutions and Mankun Law Firm have formally established a cooperative relationship. The two parties will combine professional accumulations in global risk insights, financial crime compliance, industry resources and new economy legal services to strengthen industry exchanges, joint development of professional content and ecosystem resource connections around topics including artificial intelligence, fintech, digital assets, corporate overseas expansion and cross-border compliance. LexisNexis Risk Solutions' financial crime compliance capabilities cover scenarios such as customer risk identification, sanctions and list screening, anti-money laundering, and fraud and identity risk management; Mankun has long focused on Web3.0, artificial intelligence, technology finance, digital assets and corporate globalization, and participates in legal practice relating to product design, business models, cross-border operations, anti-money laundering and regulatory response. For globalized enterprises, global risk information and technical tools provide dimensions for understanding customer, transaction and market risks; how specific regulatory rules apply to business models, product architectures and cross-border operations still needs to be judged in light of local laws and regu

On September 9, 2026, the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption announced a commercial bribery case involving virtual assets: a former bank relationship manager pleaded guilty in the District Court to one count of conspiracy to accept advantages by an agent, admitting to conspiring with others to accept USDT worth more than USD 470,000 as remuneration for certifying multiple false standby letters of credit and related documents without the bank's authorization, and the case was adjourned to September 18 for sentencing. The article uses this case to explain that section 9 of Hong Kong's Prevention of Bribery Ordinance also regulates transfers of advantages in private organizations; company employees may be agents and employers may be principals; where an agent accepts an advantage connected with the performance of his duties without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, the party providing the advantage may also be liable. In determining whether a USDT commission, rebate, or post-transaction appreciation red packet constitutes commercial bribery, the key is not the form of the asset, but whom the recipient represents, the reason for payment, the official act to which it corresponds, and whether the principal effectively knew of and permitted it. The article notes that an employer's knowing does not equal legal permission, that a small amount or industry practice is not a defense, and that a payer who bypasses the counterparty's employer to pay an individual wallet also faces risk. Enterprises should incorporate USDT commissions, tokens, airdrop allocations, an

Short answer: whether this can be compliant does not depend on the act of converting crypto into US dollars itself, but on the transaction parties, the authenticity of the trade, the fund flow chain, subjective knowledge, and a provable lawful source. Under Hong Kong law, it also depends on whether the exchanger has fulfilled its licensing and anti-money laundering obligations; if the source and roles cannot be clearly explained, criminal risk will be amplified, and third-party fraud will also find an opening.