A New Era For Hedera

Today marks the start of a new era for the Hedera ecosystem. We’re unveiling two new brand identities: the HBAR Foundation is now Hedera Foundation, and the Hedera Governing Council is now Hedera Council. While these two entities remain independent and continue to serve distinct roles, they are now aligned under the same Hedera brand, providing greater clarity to those in, or looking to join, the growing Hedera ecosystem. But this moment is about more than branding; it represents a renewed sense of purpose and direction, supported by fresh leadership and a deep commitment to the Hedera community.

Since the open access launch in September 2019 to the donation of Hedera’s entire codebase to the Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust as Project Hiero in 2024, the Hedera ecosystem has continued evolving to strengthen trust, scalability, and decentralization. In support of these objectives, several strategic changes are being introduced across the Hedera ecosystem. These updates are intended to bring greater clarity to the community and ensure that each entity’s identity is closely aligned with its purpose and mission.

Hedera Foundation, led by CEO Charles Adkins, will continue as an independent entity focused on community-driven retail innovation and institutional adoption of the Hedera network. It will also foster the growth of tokenization, artificial intelligence (AI), and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions.

Hedera Council will be led by Tom Sylvester, who has been appointed President and will lead the implementation and execution of Council-approved strategies and policies. Hedera Council will remain focused on ensuring the continued security, strength, and integrity of the Hedera network. Additionally, Mance Harmon, co-founder of Hedera and Chairman of Hashgraph, has been elected Chairman of Hedera Council for a two-year term starting July 1, 2025.

The new visual identities for Hedera Council and Hedera Foundation closely align with their shared values of transparency and trust. Together, they reinforce Hedera as the core brand representing the open-source public network and its foundational technology platform.

Backed by fresh leadership and seasoned expertise, this refined structure and simplified brand presence propel the Hedera brand and network to new heights.

Hedera Foundation: New Focus Under Adkins’ Leadership

Charles Adkins brings a bold new vision to the Hedera Foundation. With prior experience as President of Hedera Council and leadership roles at Polygon Labs and Aptos, Charles is uniquely positioned to guide the Foundation into its next chapter.

Hedera Foundation is sharpening its focus on core priorities, most notably, DeFi and community empowerment. In 2025, it will continue to lead ecosystem integrations while launching new initiatives that make DeFi more accessible. These efforts will deliver secure, user-friendly tools for managing digital assets. The Foundation’s goal is clear: to empower individuals and communities around the world to confidently build the digital economy of the future.

At the same time, the Foundation is strengthening partnerships with enterprises leveraging the Hedera network to secure AI systems and data, driving smarter, safer, and more efficient operations. It will also support and collaborate with projects and companies to expand tokenization capabilities across industries and advance digital identity solutions that enhance online security and trust.

Hedera Council: New Chapter with Sylvester

Tom Sylvester brings a deep understanding of the Hedera ecosystem to his new role as President of Hedera Council. Since joining Hedera’s legal team in 2018, he has helped shape the legal, governance, and strategic frameworks that have been instrumental to the Council’s governance of the network.

With a track record of steady leadership and relationships across the Council, Tom steps into this new role at a pivotal moment. His experience ensures continuity as Hedera Council sharpens its focus on enterprise adoption and positions itself for the future.

Now equipped with its own website and a clearly defined identity, Hedera Council has a dedicated channel to communicate about its purpose and vision. Under Tom’s leadership, the Council will focus on strengthening decentralized governance, accelerating global enterprise adoption, influencing public policy, and ensuring that the Hedera network continues to be governed with integrity, transparency, and purpose.

Harmon: Founding Leadership Back to the Helm

Mance Harmon, co-founder of Hedera and Hashgraph, has been elected Chair of Hedera Council. Mance’s vision for the Council’s permissioned governance outlined in the original Hedera white paper has now grown into a governing body of 30 world-leading organizations. His return to the roots of the governance model he originally conceived brings invaluable strategic insight and a deep, proven understanding of the ecosystem.

As Chair, Mance will steer high-level strategic alignment, empowering Council members to actively build solutions on the network, and supporting the Council’s stewardship of the next phase of the Hedera network. Mance will assume the role on July 1, 2025, succeeding Brett McDowell, who will continue to serve as chair through June 30. The Council is grateful for Brett’s steady leadership and lasting contributions to the Hedera ecosystem over his many years of dedicated service.

A Brand Depicting Different Layers of Trust

This new era for the Hedera ecosystem is accompanied by a refreshed visual identity — one that reflects the interconnectedness of the ecosystem and the vital role of trust at every layer. Each brand represents a different layer, empowering Web3 market participants to build and shape the future.

Hedera is the core base layer representing the revolutionary technology and public open source network — which is why the two rebranded entities proudly carry Hedera as a prefix in their names. The Hedera brand and social channels remain unchanged and will continue to communicate about the network, technology, use cases, developer resources, and more.

Hedera Foundation is the layer that provides the building blocks of capital, commerce, and community, for the future generation of builders to succeed. A dedicated website has been launched to communicate with enterprise builders, ecosystem partners, and the community.

Hedera Council is the layer representing fair and decentralized governance of the Hedera network, made up of leading global organizations committed to responsible governance and building enterprise solutions on the Hedera network. A new website has been launched focused on the Council’s purpose, membership benefits, governance model, along with resources such as governance documents, policies, and meeting minutes.

These new brands underscore the collective ecosystem commitment to innovate and build even stronger infrastructure for a decentralized world. These identities speak to the shared direction: working together, aligned in purpose, and moving boldly toward a more trusted and transparent digital future.

Other entities in the ecosystem, such as Hashgraph and the Hashgraph Association, will retain their existing identities and continue to serve as key contributors to the Hedera ecosystem, focused respectively on maintaining the Hedera codebase and driving enterprise adoption across Europe and the Middle East.

Hello, Future

The Hedera ecosystem is accelerating. Across the network, contributors are creating the conditions for real-world adoption, decentralized innovation, and sustainable growth that spans industries and geographies.

This is just the beginning. With the strength of an unmatched community, fresh leadership perspectives, and a clear path forward, the Hedera network is well-positioned to accelerate its role as the trust layer of the digital economy.

The future is not only being imagined — it’s being built. And it’s being built on Hedera.

A New Era For Hedera was originally published in Hedera Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.