Hedera Hashgraph says it will open-source its blockchain technology during 2022. Simultaneously, the Hedera Governing Council reports that it has voted to purchase the intellectual property rights to the Hashgraph consensus algorithm from Swirlds, Inc., the original creator of the Hashgraph consensus algorithm and founding member of the Hedera Governing Council.
The open-source license will be under Apache 2.0 license in 2022.
The Governing Council states that it has voted to take this step to enable broader community participation. The open-sourcing of the consensus layer is expected to further accelerate its development and expand the number of contributors.
Scott Thiel, Partner at DLA Piper, one of the original Governing Council members, said that the vision has always been for Hedera to be a “council-member driven organization, enabling the most decentralized governance and therefore broadest-reaching public network on the market.”
“We believe now is the time to enable the fastest adoption possible of the Hedera network, to capitalize on growing demand for public DLT.”
The development and management teams and related personnel currently employed by Hedera Hashgraph, LLC will move to Swirlds.
Mance Harmon, CEO of Hedera Hashgraph, and Dr. Leemon Baird, Chief Scientist of Hedera Hashgraph, will leave those positions, which are being dissolved, and will continue to participate in the Hedera ecosystem as peer members of the Governing Council through Swirlds, where they are CEO and CTO, respectively.
In addition, Baird will continue to serve as Co-Chair of the Hedera Council’s Technical Steering & Product Committee, which is responsible for technical and roadmap decisions affecting the Hedera network, and Natalie Furman, who is resigning from the position of General Counsel at Hedera Hashgraph to lead legal efforts at Swirlds, will continue to participate as one of the member representatives in the Council’s Legal & Regulatory Committee.
Tom Sylvester is being promoted from Associate General Counsel to General Counsel at Hedera Hashgraph.
Baird said that from day one she had envisioned “shared worlds” where anyone can collaborate:
“With the completion of V1 of the network code, open sourcing of the hashgraph algorithm, and an engaged Council making key decisions about the future of the network, the foundation of that vision is complete. The next challenge is for the broader community to develop products and services beyond the Layer 1 protocol, to deliver products and services that enable others to leverage the power of the Layer 1 protocol to create value. Swirlds is the best place for us to work on that, while fostering an ecosystem where all can participate equally.”
Prof. Paolo Tasca, Executive Director University College London, Centre for Blockchain Technologies, and the first academic partner to join the Hedera Governing Council members, stated:
“I believe in non-hierarchical governance models which enable self-adaptability to rapid change via multilateral cooperation between innovators, developers, industry and academia. Therefore, I praise the Hedera team for their majestic work towards the broadening of the Hedera innovation ecosystem through open sourcing the consensus layer and further governance decentralization.”
The Hedera Governing Council has also entered into an agreement to outsource several essential services to Swirlds for the foreseeable future as the Council focuses on core network governance, industry standards, public policy, and treasury management.
Pradeep Iyer, Ph.D, Research Fellow, Materials Group for Avery Dennison added that fecent pivotal organizational changes within Hedera hold the promise to seamlessly scale & secure a public DLT platform.
The Council is also pleased to announce that Brett McDowell was unanimously elected by the Board of Directors for a two-year term effective January 1, 2022, as the first Chair of Hedera Hashgraph after serving ex officio in that capacity since the founding of the Council in February of 2019.
Dr. Leemon Baird, Mance Harmon, Saiprasad Raut, and Brett McDowell will host a webinar on Wednesday, January 26th at 8 am PT/11 am ET to share more details on the change. Interested parties may join at: Hedera – YouTube.