What Does Compliance Really Mean in Web3?

As the Web3 ecosystem grows, compliance is becoming a foundational element of product and business strategy instead of just a back-office concern. At Paris Blockchain Week, ComPilot brought together leading voices from the crypto and compliance space to explore the human side of regulation: what it really means, why it matters, and how to build with it in mind.

This conversation featured:

• Cécile Henry, Head of Legal and Compliance at Meria and Deskoin, and Co-Founder of Seqlense
  
  
• Delphine Forma, Head of Policy Europe at Solidus Labs
  
  
• André Dibé, CEO and Co-Founder at Kamea Labs
  
  
• Moderated by Vanessa Moreno, Head of Marketing at ComPilot
  
  

Compliance is About Protecting What Matters

Cécile Henry opened the conversation by reframing compliance from the ground up:

“Compliance isn’t the boring thing people think it is. We’re not here to block everything. Our role is to protect the company, protect the clients, and make business happen, but in a way that’s sustainable and within a regulated framework.”

She emphasized that compliance is the second line of defense, not the enemy of innovation, and that forgetting this often leads to unnecessary risk.

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Regulation Is About More Than Rules, It’s About Human Lives

Delphine Forma brought the conversation back to the core reason regulations exist in the first place:

“I’ve always been passionate about fighting financial crime. When we talk about anti-money laundering, that money often comes from serious crimes: human trafficking, drugs, violence. Regulation exists to prevent those crimes from being financed or hidden.”

Delphine also pointed out the false perception that compliance always blocks business:

“We’re not here to say no. We’re here to help the business happen in a compliant way, while respecting the rights and safety of others. There are creative ways to do both.”

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From Burden to Strategy: The Entrepreneur’s Perspective

André Dibé offered a refreshingly honest take from the builder’s point of view:

“At first, I didn’t really care about compliance. I just wanted to build my company. But compliance came into the picture naturally and it became a logical step for what we were trying to do.”

He doesn’t see compliance as a burden:

“It’s more like a challenge, like climbing Mount Everest. It’s hard, yes, but not impossible. It’s something to tackle, not something that holds you back.”

André also shared how his team at Kamea Labs approached the problem early on:

“We knew compliance would be complex and expensive. So we treated it as just as important as the tech. We started the company not just with a CTO, but with a Chief Compliance Officer. We built our framework from the beginning, always reading and understanding the rules before building anything.”

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Building Web3 Products with “Compliance by Design”

As Vanessa Moreno summed it up “that’s compliance by design”. In a space moving as fast as Web3, this philosophy of building for compliance from day one could be the difference between scaling sustainably or running into costly setbacks.

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Why This Conversation Matters

Too often, compliance in crypto is misunderstood as a box-ticking exercise or a legal fire drill. But as this panel made clear, it’s actually a strategic layer for building trustworthy, resilient, and scalable products.

At ComPilot, this is what we believe in too. We’re building the infrastructure that helps Web3 companies stay ahead of regulation, without slowing down innovation. Get in touch or book a demo to learn more.

Watch the full workshop on Youtube.

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