11. Governance and the Foundation for MIZUHIKI

11.1 The Foundation for MIZUHIKI

MIZUHIKI's Foundation is a general incorporated association (ippan shadan houjin) registered in Japan. The Foundation holds stewardship of the MIZUHIKI protocol, of the Foundation-allocated portions of MIZU supply described in Section 8, and of the ecosystem programmes that support the network's growth. The Foundation's charter limits its activities to the advancement of the MIZUHIKI network and the ecosystem around it. It does not engage in commercial activities that would put it in competition with applications or operators on the network.

The Foundation is governed by a board drawn from technology, financial, and governance backgrounds, with a mandate to exercise its stewardship functions in accordance with published Foundation policies and in the interests of the network as a whole.

11.2 AltX Research K.K.

AltX Research K.K. is a Japanese kabushiki kaisha (stock company) that serves as the core technology contributor to the MIZUHIKI protocol. AltX Research operates independently of the Foundation; its relationship with the Foundation is governed by a published contributor agreement setting out the scope of its protocol development work, the intellectual property arrangements under which that work is contributed to the network, and the economic terms (reflected in its token allocation) under which AltX Research is compensated for its ongoing contribution.