Answers to the questions we hear most

The Autheo Foundation is a Wyoming nonprofit corporation and the independent steward of the Autheo open-source ecosystem. Wyoming was selected because its nonprofit statutes, modernized in 2018 and again in 2021, provide some of the strongest legal protections for mission-driven entities in the United States. The Foundation supports developer programs, the ambassador program, open-source stewardship, and transparent governance for the Autheo network, a Layer-0 Operating System integrated with a Layer-1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK.

The Foundation has filed IRS Form 1023 for 501(c)(3) public-charity recognition, and the application is currently under IRS review. Average IRS processing time for Form 1023 in 2025 was roughly six to twelve months, according to IRS published guidance. Once determination is granted, qualifying donations will be tax-deductible in the United States, retroactive to the Foundation's incorporation date. See our legal structure on the About page for details.

The Foundation and the commercial Autheo entity are legally separate organizations with complementary missions. The Foundation focuses on ecosystem-level public goods: grants, governance, education, and open-source stewardship. Autheo.com focuses on enterprise sales, product development, and commercial partnerships. The two collaborate on shared network growth, and the Foundation maintains independence so it can prioritize ecosystem health free from commercial conflicts of interest, consistent with IRS rules on private-benefit limitations for tax-exempt entities.

The Autheo Foundation is incorporated in Wyoming, United States. Our work is global: the broader Autheo community spans 30+ countries and six continents. Our legal home is the State of Wyoming, but our programs serve builders, ambassadors, and partners worldwide.

The Foundation is governed by an independent five-member Board of Directors: Bruce Banaei, Hassan Firouzbakht, Ella Suarasan, Scott Bayless, and Todd Mortenson. Day-to-day operations are led by Christina Johnson, Executive Director, and Meri Rajabi, Senior Analyst. Full bios and roles are on our About page, and the Board operates under Wyoming nonprofit law (W.S. Title 17, Chapter 19), which requires fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and obedience to mission.

The grant program is being designed now and will open applications once 501(c)(3) determination is in hand and the funding-round framework is finalized. We will announce specific timelines, eligibility, and application processes through the Programs page and the community channels listed on our Community page. Sign up for updates to be notified the moment applications open.

The Foundation plans to fund developers, researchers, and teams building public goods on the Autheo network: open-source tooling, infrastructure, documentation, research, and ecosystem-strengthening projects. Both individuals and organizations are expected to be eligible, and applicants will be welcome from anywhere in the world. Final eligibility criteria will be published with each funding round so applicants can match their work to the round's focus.

The Foundation will prioritize ecosystem-level public goods: open-source tooling, developer libraries and SDKs, security research, documentation, educational content, and reference applications that demonstrate the network's capabilities. Closed-source products, speculative trading projects, and work that competes directly with core protocol infrastructure are out of scope. This focus aligns with how leading blockchain foundations (Ethereum Foundation, Solana Foundation, Cosmos Hub) structure their public-goods funding.

No. Grants from the Foundation will be non-dilutive and non-repayable, consistent with 501(c)(3) charitable-grant standards. Recipients will agree to deliverables, will publish their work under open-source licenses (typically MIT or Apache 2.0), and will share progress reports with the community to maintain transparency and accountability.

Ambassadors lead the Autheo movement in their region. Typical activities include organizing local meetups and workshops, onboarding new developers, creating educational content, representing Autheo at conferences, and serving as a regional voice for the ecosystem. Ambassadors get direct access to the Foundation team, event funding, branded gear, and structured rewards tied to contributions and impact.

The program is actively recruiting now. Apply through the Ambassador Application page. We look for community-minded builders, educators, and organizers with a track record of contributing to open-source or blockchain communities. You don't need to be a developer; strong communicators, event organizers, content creators, and educators are equally welcome, and the Autheo community already spans 30+ countries across six continents, so global applicants are encouraged.

Ambassadors receive event funding, branded gear, and structured rewards tied to contributions and impact, not a fixed salary. The exact mix depends on your role, activity level, and the regional needs you address. The program is designed to recognize meaningful community contributions and to comply with IRS guidance on volunteer-recognition programs for tax-exempt organizations, so it is not structured as employment.

Autheo unifies a Layer-0 Operating System with a Layer-1 blockchain into a single coherent platform. Developers get full EVM compatibility, native IBC cross-chain interoperability with 100+ Cosmos chains (per the Map of Zones live IBC topology), post-quantum identity through TheoID, compliance-aware geofencing for frameworks such as GDPR and HIPAA, and AI-native orchestration via the Eigensphere Engine. The goal is reducing the integration tax that comes from stitching together third-party tools. See our Ecosystem page for the technical details.

Yes. Autheo provides full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, which means existing Solidity smart contracts deploy without modification. Developers can use familiar tooling: Hardhat, Foundry, Remix, MetaMask, and the rest of the standard Ethereum stack. According to the Ethereum Foundation documentation, EVM compatibility is the dominant standard for smart-contract deployment, with Solidity accounting for the majority of all deployed contracts across EVM chains in 2025.

TheoID (formerly AutheoID, renamed May 2026; trademark pending) is the network's post-quantum-secure decentralized identity layer. It provides self-sovereign credentials, verifiable proofs, and privacy-preserving authentication resistant to future quantum-computing attacks. TheoID conforms to the W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0 specification, a W3C Recommendation since July 2022, and ships natively as part of the Layer-0 OS rather than as a bolt-on module.

Yes. The Autheo codebase is released under dual MIT and Apache 2.0 licensing, both OSI-approved licenses with strong enterprise adoption (the Apache 2.0 license alone covers more than 35% of all permissively licensed projects on GitHub, per OSI 2024 reporting). Developers can use, modify, and distribute the code in open-source and commercial projects. Repositories are on GitHub.

Install the Autheo CLI (npm install -g @autheo/cli), claim testnet tokens from the faucet, and deploy a contract. Full instructions, SDKs in JavaScript, Rust, and Go, and reference architecture diagrams are on the Developers page. Most developers report shipping a first contract within an hour of starting, in line with the EVM-tooling ecosystem they already know.

The Foundation is governed by an independent five-member Board of Directors with fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and obedience to mission under Wyoming nonprofit law (W.S. Title 17, Chapter 19). Major decisions, including program funding, partnerships, and treasury management, follow documented governance processes set by the Board. The Foundation's structure is intentionally separate from the commercial Autheo entity to preserve neutrality, consistent with IRS guidance on private-benefit limitations for tax-exempt organizations.

Yes. Once 501(c)(3) determination is granted, the Foundation will publish IRS Form 990 annually (a public-record disclosure required of tax-exempt organizations) along with a plain-English annual report covering programs, grant outcomes, and treasury activity. These will be linked from the About page when available. Form 990 filings are also searchable through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search.

Report vulnerabilities through our Responsible Disclosure Policy. Critical issues can be sent directly to [email protected], and a public PGP key is published in our security.txt. The Foundation follows responsible-disclosure norms consistent with RFC 9116, and will acknowledge receipt within five business days.

Yes, absolutely. Open-source ecosystems depend on far more than code: documentation, translation, moderation, design, content, education, and event organization are all high-leverage contributions. According to the 2024 State of Open Source report, non-code contributions account for a meaningful share of value in healthy ecosystems. Pick the contribution path that fits your skills on the Community page.

The primary real-time hub is Discord, which serves discussion and developer support. The community also coordinates on GitHub for open-source contributions, on X (Twitter) for announcements, and on LinkedIn for professional engagement. A long-form technical forum is on the roadmap. All current links are listed on the Community page.

Three reliable channels. Subscribe to the Foundation newsletter using the signup at the bottom of any page. Follow @AutheoNetwork on X for announcements. Join the Discord for ongoing discussion. The newsletter covers grant applications, ambassador openings, governance updates, developer resources, and ecosystem milestones, and is sent through a verified Resend sending domain to keep deliverability strong.