HBAR Foundation

What HBAR Foundation does

HBAR Foundation (legal name: Hedera Foundation) is a private non-profit foundation founded in 2021 and domiciled in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It operates with a global team of 11–50 employees spanning engineering, marketing, business development, and finance, and functions as an ecosystem enabler for the Hedera public distributed ledger network — providing community, capital, and commerce to builders developing on Hedera.

The foundation's core offering is a builder funding program alongside a suite of open-source developer tools: Asset Tokenization Studio (for tokenizing real-world assets such as funds, real estate, and sustainable finance instruments), Hedera Guardian (a sustainability and carbon registry platform integrated with the UN Development Programme's Digital Public Goods National Carbon Registry), and Stablecoin Studio (for creating and managing stablecoins on Hedera). HBAR, the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera network, is used to pay transaction fees and access network services. The foundation supports builders across five primary segments: RWA Tokenization, DeFi, AI, DePIN, and Enterprise projects, with a horizontal segmentation approach.

The foundation's economic model is grant-/programmatic-investment-based rather than commercial — it does not directly sell products or charge platform fees. Underlying network economics rely on usage-based HBAR transaction fees accruing to the Hedera network itself. Strategic counterparties include Archax, Fidelity International, and Xeptagon, and the foundation joined the ERC3643 Association in 2024 to scale institutional RWA adoption. In April 2025 it partnered with Tim Stokely's Zoop platform to bid for TikTok's U.S. operations.

Name

HBAR Foundation

Legal name

Hedera Foundation

Website

https://hbarfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

HBAR Foundation is a private non-profit foundation that funds and supports builders developing on the Hedera public distributed ledger, providing open-source tooling (Asset Tokenization Studio, Hedera Guardian, Stablecoin Studio) and grants across RWA, DeFi, AI, DePIN, and enterprise segments globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Blockchain Ecosystem Development

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

RWA Tokenization Platforms (asset onboarding, structuring, issuance) (FSAPAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Permissioned Blockchain Platforms & Frameworks (Hyperledger, Corda, Quorum) (FSAPAIAA)

Keywords

• Blockchain ecosystem funding
• Open-source tokenization tools
• Real-world asset tokenization
• Distributed ledger development
• Sustainability carbon registry

Headquarters

HQ city

Grand Cayman

HQ country

Cayman Islands

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Network Utility Fees: HBAR is the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera network used to pay transaction fees and access network services. Revenue is generated through transaction fees on the network.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The HBAR Foundation is a private foundation that supports the Hedera public distributed ledger network by providing community, capital, and commerce to builders and developers. It develops and maintains open-source software tools (Asset Tokenization Studio, Hedera Guardian, Stablecoin Studio) and runs funding programs that accelerate DeFi, enterprise, AI, DePIN, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization projects on the Hedera network.

Product overview

Hedera Foundation operates as a Web3 ecosystem enabler providing the community, capital, and commerce needed to build on the Hedera network. The organization offers a suite of open-source tools including Asset Tokenization Studio, Hedera Guardian, and Stablecoin Studio, which work together to enable real-world asset tokenization, stablecoin deployment, and sustainability impact tracking. The HBAR cryptocurrency serves as the native utility token for transaction fees and network services. Combined with funding programs for DeFi and enterprise projects, the Foundation supports builders across RWA tokenization, AI, DeFi, and DePIN sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Asset Tokenization Studio

Quantifiable outcome

• Fully auditable financial instruments
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Zoop (Tim Stokely)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 April 2025Partnership with OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely's social media platform Zoop to submit a last-minute bid to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations. The proposal offers 80% of ad revenue directly to content creators, representing a radical departure from current creator compensation models. The bid was submitted following the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
• ERC3643 AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHBAR Foundation joined the ERC3643 Association to help scale the adoption of ERC-3643 standard and institutional Real World Assets on the Hedera network. This supports the foundation's mission to accelerate deployment of tokenized assets.
• XeptagonmajorTechnology or IntegrationXeptagon integrated the Hedera Guardian into the United Nations Development Programme (UDPN) Digital Public Goods National Carbon Registry, enabling environmental outcome tracking and carbon registry functionality.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Stellar Development Foundation: Foundation supporting the Stellar blockchain network with a strong focus on RWA tokenization, payments, and institutional financial use cases. Highly comparable as a non-profit foundation driving ecosystem growth around a permissioned-style distributed ledger.
• Algorand Foundation: Non-profit foundation supporting the Algorand network, with comparable programs for developer grants, RWA tokenization, and CBDC/enterprise partnerships. Closely analogous mission and operating model.
• Solana Foundation: Foundation supporting the Solana blockchain, funding DeFi, RWA, and DePIN builders globally. Comparable as a layer-1 ecosystem foundation driving developer adoption through grants and tooling.
• Polygon Labs / Polygon Foundation: Foundation and development company supporting the Polygon network, with explicit RWA, ZK, and tokenization focus and a comparable grant-driven builder support model.
• Avalanche Foundation: Foundation supporting the Avalanche network with strong institutional and RWA tokenization positioning (e.g., SkyBridge, tokenized funds). Comparable mission and builder funding programs.
• NEAR Foundation: Foundation supporting the NEAR Protocol with grants and ecosystem programs targeting AI, DeFi, and RWA builders. Comparable as a layer-1 foundation funding developer adoption.
• Tezos Foundation: Swiss foundation supporting the Tezos blockchain with a long-standing grant program for tokenization, art, and enterprise use cases. Comparable non-profit foundation structure and builder support mission.
• DFINITY Foundation (Internet Computer): Foundation supporting the Internet Computer Protocol with grants and developer programs for enterprise-grade decentralized applications. Comparable as a non-profit foundation backing an enterprise-focused distributed ledger.

Broad incumbents

• Ethereum Foundation: The largest and most established blockchain ecosystem foundation, supporting Ethereum and its L2s. Comparable as a non-profit foundation backing a public distributed ledger, though Ethereum's ecosystem is far broader than Hedera's.

Emerging players

• Archax: UK-regulated digital securities exchange and RWA tokenization platform that is a direct partner of HBAR Foundation (tokenized Fidelity MMF). Comparable as an RWA tokenization infrastructure provider operating on Hedera.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HBAR_foundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/about

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments16 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about HBAR Foundation