Cayman foundation companies are designed to offer a high degree of flexibility and functionality, making them well-suited for a wide range of blockchain and Web 3 projects. The governance structure of a Cayman foundation is another key aspect that makes it well-suited for blockchain projects. Unlike traditional companies, which are typically established with shareholders, a Cayman foundation can operate without members or shareholders.
The players involved in a Foundation are the Directors, the Supervisors, and the Ultimate Beneficial owners
Directors
A Cayman foundation is required to always have at least One director. It can either be an individual or entity. The name and address of directors should be recorded at the Cayman Public Registry, so that information would be public information, available to anyone searching the records of the foundation. Therefore, it is recommended to use nominee director.
Supervisors
If a Foundation Company either chooses not to have any members or at any time ceases to have any members, it is required to appoint a ‘supervisor’. The role of the supervisor is, as the name implies, to supervise the management of the Foundation Company but crucially they have no ownership rights or financial entitlement in the Foundation Company. A foundation can also appoint nominee supervisor, where an external entity acts on behalf of the foundation in a supervisory capacity on the basis on direction given by the leads of the project.
Beneficial Owners
As part of the recent Beneficial Ownership (B0) regulation, all Cayman foundation has an obligation to identify at least one person as the UBO. In case no individual can be identified as a “beneficial owner”. In those circumstances, the act mandates that a “senior managing official” must be identified.
The beneficial owner information is not public currently, but it is filed with Cayman registry. This means at present the information is not available or searchable by the general public. Only in circumstance where there is a court order requiring investigations these information can be made available to the concerned authorities.