A lot of projects in this space run on anonymous teams with no legal entity behind them. The eCurrency Foundation's charter commits it to being non-profit, with real limits on what it can do with the ECR it holds.
What the foundation is for
The foundation's charter sets out its purpose in specific terms: developing, promoting, supporting, and advancing decentralised infrastructure built on distributed ledger technology, with a particular focus on blockchain payment systems.
That mandate breaks into a few concrete strands. The foundation develops and maintains the eCurrency protocol itself, an open-source payment infrastructure built on UTXO validation and a hard-capped supply with no open-ended issuance. It funds research into cryptography, including post-quantum cryptography, and into the security and scalability of distributed systems. It supports developers, businesses, and institutions building on the protocol through grants, partnerships, and education. And it's the point of contact for regulators, standards bodies, and other institutions the project has to work with as it grows.
Non-profit by charter
The foundation isn't set up to generate returns for anyone. Its charter states plainly that it doesn't pursue profit, and any surplus is directed back into its stated purpose. Its assets are irrevocably committed to that purpose, and the charter excludes any distribution of profits or benefits to founders, board members, or third parties, beyond fair payment for services rendered. The same restriction applies to how the foundation can hold ECR. It may hold, manage, and use ECR only to the extent its purpose requires, and the charter specifically rules out speculative or commercial trading.
Structured as a crypto-asset under MiCA
ECR is structured as a crypto-asset under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. More on how eCurrency is put together, and the reasoning behind it, is in the whitepaper.
