The Bitcoin 2.0 platform Counterparty announced Wednesday the launch of a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering Counterparty growth and development.

The company said on its website the Counterparty Foundation’s mission “is to power the development of innovative, blockchain-based financial technology, facilitate crucial administrative functions, advance the Counterparty protocol and its products, educate the community on the Counterparty technology and its uses, provide consulting services on third party development projects, and drive global Counterparty awareness.”

Counterparty said that by bringing together community members and creating alliances worldwide, the foundation will work to make sure that “Counterparty remains a successful, thriving and growing financial platform with an increasing number of projects being built on top of its technology.” The company said that “by employing core developers and promoting innovation and collaboration among the community, the Foundation will ensure that the development efforts are being focused towards maintaining and furthering the Counterparty Protocol.”

Composed of five directors, the Counterparty Foundation’s board of directors will govern the organization’s work and steer direction through its strategy, mission, and core functions. Counterparty said board members will be selected by founding, industry, and community members in the following manner:

Two founding directors will be chosen by the founding members (Robby Dermody, Evan Wagner, and Adam Krellenstein).

Two industry directors will be chosen by industry members through instant-runoff voting, with each industry member allowed to nominate a single candidate.

One community director will be elected by the community members voting as a class during a two-week long voting period (via XCP-based proof of stake voting). Each community director candidate must possess at least 50 XCP tokens.

For a four-month initial period, prior to official elections, Counterparty has named five interim directors. They are Counterparty co-founders Robby Dermody and Adam Krellenstein, Koinify co-founder Tom Ding, Vennd creator and Vendd.io co-founder Jeremy Lam, and Chris DeRose, an active member of the South Bitcoin community. They will hold their positions temporarily in order to finalize the industry membership program, prepare the community voting procedure, and enable a proper elections process to conclude by April 2, 2015.

Following this, Dermody and Krellenstein will continue their role as foundation directors and, along with the elected community and industry directors, manage the foundation’s operation in accordance with foundation bylaws. Counterparty has put the proposed bylaws on Google Docs for a two-week comment period. The company has also set up a dedicated forum where people can provide feedback on the bylaws.

Counterparty also announced the launch of the Counterparty Foundation website, which will serve as the main information source for the organization and its work. Through the site, community members and organization can join the foundation’s membership programs where they can enjoy a range of benefits.

Image via Counterparty website