Entertainment and theme park giant Disney has been indicating its interest in blockchain technologies, decentralized finance NFTs and the metaverse for a long time. The company now wishes to act on its interests by hiring legal experts specializing in the field. It appears that these legal counsellors will help the age-old entertainment company boost its efforts to go ahead with its Web3 plans.
Disney posted about the job on Friday, telling candidates that they seek legal counsel which will provide them with “legal advice and support for global NFT products” for all of its subsidiaries—including Disney parks, experience, products and media/entertainment distribution. The company wants the candidate to be a member of the California state bar to be able to work at its headquarters in Burbank, California. The candidate must also be experienced in “the NFT, cryptocurrency and Web 3 space, including knowledge of related legal considerations and issues.”
The principal counsel should be able to provide Disney’s legal and business teams regular legal consultation on matters relating to the virtual world, as well as thought leadership and strategic guidance on products utilizing blockchain and digital currency. The company wants a person who is more than an attorney and should be able to take active roles in risk assessment and financial trade-offs.
The job posting comes months after Disney CEO, Bob Chapek praised the metaverse for being the “next great storytelling frontier.”
Disney had its first endeavour in the digital world by introducing its NFTs in 2021. Each NFT was priced at $400 and all of them were Spiderman collectables. This was a time when the NFT market was booming and was at its peak. Disney-owned Marvel had partnered with VEVE to launch its first set of NFTs. Disney then promoted Mike White, a tech executive, as Senior Vice-President to lead its metaverse projects.
The corporation may be looking to experiment with digital currency and decentralised financial mechanisms in addition to NFTs and metaverse ecosystems. These innovations will likely be created and implemented “on an accelerated and aggressive timeline,” according to the job description.
This job description also demonstrates Disney’s awareness of the mounting legal and regulatory constraints that the NFT sector and cryptocurrency markets are now under. As stated in the job description, Disney’s NFT legal advisor will pay close attention to assessing “securities law issues” connected to the promotion and selling of NFTs.
Legal uncertainty over digital assets looms as lawmakers and authorities in the US and Europe tussle over labelling them as securities or commodities. Gary Gensler, the top boss at the US SEC has time and again iterated that many cryptocurrencies fall under the definition of securities while lawmakers like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Cynthia Lummis and Commodities and Futures trade commission (CFTC) chairman Rostin Behnam suggested that Bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities. However, in contrast, the SEC claimed in a lawsuit that the entire Ethereum ecosystem should be considered an American exchange since most of Ethereum’s nodes are “clustered more densely” in the US than in any other country.