About the Foundation
The independent nonprofit steward of the Autheo open-source ecosystem, driving governance, grants, and global community growth for the decentralized web.
Our Mission
The Autheo Foundation is a nonprofit organization established to serve as the independent steward of the Autheo open-source ecosystem, a Layer-0 Operating System integrated with a Layer-1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK.
We exist to ensure the Autheo protocol remains open, neutral, and accessible to all. Through grants, education, governance, and community programs, we invest in the ecosystem-level public goods that drive long-term, organic growth.
Foundation & Autheo.com
The Autheo Foundation operates independently from the commercial Autheo entity while maintaining a complementary relationship, ensuring ecosystem health and Foundation stewardship remain free from commercial conflicts.
Autheo Foundation (Nonprofit)
The Foundation serves as the ecosystem's public goods layer, ensuring the protocol remains open, neutral, and community-governed.
- Grants & Funding
- Education & Training
- Governance & Transparency
- Open-Source Stewardship
Autheo.com (Commercial)
The commercial entity drives enterprise adoption, product development, and revenue generation, fueling the network's growth.
- Enterprise Sales
- Product Development
- Commercial Partnerships
- Revenue Generation
Both entities collaborate toward shared network growth while maintaining organizational independence, the Foundation ensures the ecosystem remains a public good, while Autheo.com drives commercial adoption.
Building the Foundation for a Decentralized Future
Four strategic pillars guide our work to accelerate ecosystem growth, ensure open-source integrity, and build lasting infrastructure for the decentralized web.
Developer Growth
Drive active developer adoption from 25,000 testnet wallets to 1M+ developers within three years of mainnet launch through grants, hackathons, education, and enterprise demand generation.
Open-Source Stewardship
Serve as custodian of the Autheo open-source codebase, maintaining code quality, documentation, and contribution standards under dual MIT/Apache 2.0 licensing.
Enterprise Credibility
Provide independent governance, compliance documentation, and industry standards participation that enterprises require before adopting blockchain for regulated workloads.
Community Development
Build a global community of ambassadors, contributors, and advocates across 30+ countries, creating network effects that accelerate organic growth.
Transparent & Accountable Governance
The Autheo Foundation is governed by an independent Board of Directors committed to transparency, accountability, and community participation. All major decisions, from grant allocations to protocol upgrades, follow documented governance processes.
As the ecosystem matures, the Foundation expects to broaden its Board with outside directors and expand community input through working groups, advisor panels, and public comment on grant priorities. The Foundation remains a board-governed nonprofit; community members provide input, not binding governance.
Board of Directors
The Foundation's Board of Directors provides strategic oversight and ensures the organization fulfills its mission of stewarding the Autheo open-source ecosystem.
Bruce Banaei
Hassan Firouzbakht
Ella Suarasan
Scott Bayless
Todd Mortenson
Foundation Leadership
Day-to-day stewardship of the Foundation's mission, operations, and community programs.
Christina Johnson
Meri Rajabi
Foundation Timeline
Key milestones in the Autheo Foundation's journey from establishment to full ecosystem maturity.
501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Status
The Autheo Foundation is pursuing 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status with the IRS as a Wyoming nonprofit foundation dedicated to open-source blockchain ecosystem stewardship.
As a 501(c)(3) organization, the Foundation will be able to receive tax-deductible donations, pursue charitable grants, and provide the governance legitimacy that institutional partners and enterprises require. This structure ensures long-term sustainability and public accountability.
Why the Foundation is Domiciled in Wyoming
The Autheo Foundation is a Wyoming nonprofit corporation, headquartered at 30 N Gould St Ste 51206, Sheridan, WY 82801. Wyoming was a deliberate choice, not a default one. The state pairs a modern nonprofit statute with a stable, predictable regulatory environment that suits a foundation supporting open-source and blockchain public goods.
Modern nonprofit statute
The Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act provides clear rules for board governance, director liability, member rights, and asset distribution on dissolution. This codified clarity reduces operational risk for the Foundation and the grantees and partners that rely on it.
Tax efficiency for charitable dollars
Wyoming levies no state corporate income tax and no personal income tax. Once the Foundation receives its federal 501(c)(3) determination, more of every donated dollar will reach program work rather than state-level overhead. State sales-tax exemption follows automatically on submission of the IRS determination letter to the Wyoming Department of Revenue.
A meaningful nonprofit ecosystem
Wyoming hosts more than 5,000 registered 501(c) organizations, of which roughly 68% are 501(c)(3) public charities. The Foundation joins an active community supported by the Wyoming Nonprofit Network and a well-developed registered-agent and compliance ecosystem.
Alignment with the Autheo ecosystem
The Autheo commercial entity is also Wyoming-domiciled. Co-locating the Foundation in the same jurisdiction simplifies coordination on policy, intellectual property, and ecosystem grants, while preserving the legal separation between the for-profit network operator and this independent nonprofit steward.