- From: Markus Sabadello <markus@danubetech.com>
- Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2018 15:53:41 +0200
- To: public-veres-one@w3.org
Hello, I don't really have any experience in what it takes to set up or run organizations like this. But I am sympathetic to Veres One and everything related to it, and I happen to have dual Austrian/Swiss citizenship, let me know if this could help in any way. Markus On 07/06/2018 08:05 PM, Adam Lake wrote: > Hi Dorothy, > > Thank you for your good questions. See replies inline. > > > On 7/6/2018 12:19 PM, dorothyg wrote: >> Dear Veres One Community, >> >> Thank you Adam for involving us in this decision. >> A few questions 1) The reason given for targeting Switzerland is that >> it is perceived as neutral, the disadvantage is that it is expensive. >> The perception of neutrality depends on your target audience. Are >> there possible locations we could look at outside of Europe or the >> USA? Would Canada be an option for example? > Agreed that the perception of neutrality depends on the target > audience. Since we're aiming to be a Global Utility for decentralized > identifiers our conclusion was that Switzerland would be the least > problematic for the greatest number of participants around the globe. > We want to avoid being US-centric and depending on which way the winds > of geopolitics blow Canada may or may not be strongly associated with > the US. Absolute neutrality is essentially impossible but I think we > can agree that maximum neutrality is the goal. The other nations we > have identified as decent options were all in Europe, with Switzerland > leading by far. Perhaps this is a mistake. I think any nation is an > option as long as it: > > 1. Is globally viewed as a neutral country > 2. Will allow the Veres One model to acquire non-profit status > 3. Does not present high risk as it relates to regulation or political > stability > >> >> 2) Nowadays for most countries registering as a not-for-profit >> necessitates some representation of nationals of that country on the >> board. Can you tell us more about this from the Swiss perspective? >> Perhaps a little chart listing out positives and negatives could help >> us research alternatives? Or send us a link so we can read through >> for ourselves. > It is ideal to have a Swiss Board member when incorporating a > nonprofit Foundation in Switzerland but there is something called > "domiciliary services" that Foundations can pay law firms for to > satisfy the domiciliary requirement. This is part of the operating > expenses described in the original email. Please see above list for > requirements for prospective nations to incorporate in. I encourage > everyone to add to that list if they have additional requirements >> >> 3) Registering a not-for-profit should be simple. I see boasts of how >> it takes less than 3 days to register a for-profit company. Can you >> tell me what makes it necessary to get help on this? Would Estonia be >> an option? I know they allow nationals of other countries to register >> for-profit companies once you have linked up with a local firm for >> accounting purposes etc. > Registering as a nonprofit in Switzerland is not simple, I wish it > were. The 65K startup costs mentioned include ~15K in legal and > incorporation fees--the other 50K is a capital requirement to open a > bank account. Estonia is an option. Our perception was that when > people think "nonprofit global public utility" that Estonia is > probably not the first place they think of. We thought it would be an > edgy decision to incorporate in Estonia. We're not trying to be edgy > we're trying to be boring and consistent. However, Estonia is > innovative when it comes to digital government services. There may be > a lot of synergies between Veres One and the Estonian government. It > also appears to be a simple > <https://www.estoniancompanyregistration.com/nonprofit-organisation-registration-in-estonia/> > and cost effective option. Perhaps we should consider revising the > proposal to Incorporating in the US and then migrating the Foundation > to Switzerland. Or maybe Estonia is viewed globally as neutral. It > would be great to hear other perspectives on this. >> >> 4) The only issue I have with registering in the US, is the love of >> litigation and associated costs. Also the policy environment seems a >> little erratic at the moment but this could be a transitory phase. >> You probably have a better feel for this than I do. I will contact >> my third sector network and ask the simple question which is the best >> country in the world to register an international not-for-profit. If >> I get any useful responses I will pass them on. > While I share your perspective of the policy environment being erratic > I have a high degree of confidence that it won't affect the > Foundation. I hope you found the replies sufficient enough to reach > out to your network with the question of where best to incorporate an > international nonprofit that will oversee a global internet utility. > We want as much quality input as we can get on this important decision. >> >> Hope this helps >> Dorothy > Yes, thank you very much for your engagement and great questions. > > Adam >> >> On Friday, 6 July 2018, 15:47:50 GMT, Adam Lake >> <alake@digitalbazaar.com> wrote: >> >> >> ** >> >> *Greetings Veres One Community, * >> >> * >> >> One of the first orders of business for the Veres One Project is to >> incorporate as a nonprofit, as the Veres One Foundation. We have >> identified Switzerland as the ideal home for the Veres One Foundation >> because Switzerland is globally viewed as a neutral country and is >> home to many international non-profits and UN agencies. As Swiss >> cultural support for civil society organizations is strong, we >> believe that it is the best place to base an organization that will >> oversee a global internet utility such as Veres One. >> >> >> However, Swiss incorporation requires $65K USD in startup costs and >> up to $10K USD per year in operating costs compared to incorporating >> in the US where startup costs are approximately $3K and operating >> costs for low revenue foundations are less that $1K per year. Swiss >> incorporation also presents additional regulatory risks since the >> Maintainer/Founders (DIgital Bazaar) are US-based and the nonprofit >> Foundation would be Swiss-based. The risks are minimal and the >> additional costs are not astronomical but it would be far more lean >> and cost effective to incorporate in the US. >> >> >> Proposal:Incorporate as a nonprofit in the US as the Veres One >> Foundation with a contractual obligation to close down the US >> Foundation and migrate the entity to a Swiss-based nonprofit >> Foundation once the US-based foundation has $100K in savings, which >> based on the current funds distribution breakdown >> <https://veres.one/network/funding/>would require a minimum of $435K >> *(23% is 100K)* of revenue to flow through the network. >> >> >> Funds allocation, other than the 5% to founders, can be modified by >> the CG to reach the $100K mark at a faster rate. In addition to >> fee-based revenue revenue can also take the form of a donation. >> >> >> Questions: >> >> >> 1. >> >> Do you have any reservations about incorporating in the US as an >> initial phase of the Veres One Foundation? If so, what are they? >> >> 2. >> >> Do you agree that Switzerland is a good long-term home for the >> Veres One Foundation? If not, why? Do you have suggestions for a >> preferred nation of incorporation? What are the specific >> advantages of incorporating in that country? Would you be able to >> facilitate the incorporation process in that country? >> >> * >> -- >> Adam Lake >> Director, Business Development >> Digital Bazaar >
Received on Friday, 13 July 2018 13:54:11 UTC