Standards & Governance
Independent stewardship by design.
The bDNA Foundation is a Swiss non-profit organisation in formation, based in Geneva. No single state controls it. No commercial interest directs it. Geneva was chosen for its tradition of international neutrality, its role as a centre for multilateral governance, and its robust non-profit legal framework.
Foundation Mandate
The Foundation establishes and oversees the certification process through which hardware implementations are evaluated for conformance with the protocol's technical and security requirements. Only implementations satisfying these requirements may be designated as conformant with the TSI, TFBIA, TMIA, or TBI-A specifications.
The Foundation operates as a neutral steward — preserving the integrity, consistency, and long-term viability of the protocol and its specifications, independent of any single commercial implementation.
Ethics and Prohibited Use
The Foundation maintains an Ethics and Prohibited Use Policy. The policy prohibits the use of bDNA-certified implementations for surveillance, discrimination, or any purpose inconsistent with the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In Formation
The Foundation is currently in formation under Swiss law. The governance model described on this page is the normative model to which the Foundation is constitutionally committed.
Board Structure
Eleven voting directors. Technical primacy.
The Board shall comprise eleven voting directors and three non-voting liaisons, structured to give primacy to technical expertise while incorporating sovereign, scientific, and industry perspectives.
Nominated by the protocol developer community and named technical experts in post-quantum cryptography, hardware security, and proof systems. These seats hold a permanent technical veto over any proposed change to the cryptographic stack, the proof object format, and the post-quantum mechanisms. This veto shall not be overridden by the full Board.
Nominated by the Governmental Advisory Committee, comprising representatives from jurisdictions that have adopted or are formally evaluating the bDNA standard.
Nominated by the Scientific and Ethics Advisory Board.
Nominated by certified systems integrators and hardware partners.
Non-voting liaisons — 3
One representative from Zyan; one independent auditor and compliance liaison; one technical liaison operating in an IETF-style protocol steward capacity.
Operational rules
Peer-nominated · No single geographic region holds more than three seats · Three-year terms · Maximum two consecutive terms · Quorum: seven of eleven · All decisions published openly.
Structural Segregation
Protocol stewardship and commercial deployment are structurally separated.
The Foundation's operations are limited to protocol stewardship and certification. Manufacturing, deployment, and infrastructure operations remain exclusively with certified commercial implementers.
Zyan manufactures and deploys certified TSI hardware under a field-limited, royalty-free commercial licence from the Foundation. Zyan's governance participation is limited to a non-voting liaison seat. Any future certified manufacturer enters on identical terms.
Ownership & Licensing
All intellectual property owned by the Foundation.
Revenue Model
Independent of protocol usage and data.
Revenue is independent of protocol usage, data access, proof object generation, and on-chain anchoring activity.
Levied upon TSI, TFBIA, TMIA, and TBI-A manufacturers and systems integrators seeking bDNA certification.
Levied for conformance assessment against the published specification.
Levied for use of the bDNA name and mark in certified deployments.
Received from scientific, governmental, and institutional funding bodies.
Specification Roadmap
Sequential layers.
Proof Object Schema · Verification API Specification · Enclave Local API · Credential Presentation Profile · CP-ABE Policy Specification · Public Key Registry.
Sovereign deployment profiles mapping the core protocol to national infrastructure contexts.
Integration specifications for health records, clinical research, financial identity verification, and research data sharing.
TSI, TFBIA, TMIA, and TBI-A manufacturer certification requirements · Post-quantum upgrade policy · Conformance test suite · Ethics and Prohibited Use Policy.