Council members have not received any payment to join the Council and, other than node fees and node reward payments they may receive in their role as node hosts, they do not receive any economic benefits by virtue of holding membership interests in the Council. For increased diversity, Council members may include Non-Governmental Organizations and Universities, with the understanding that Hedera may need to provide direct financial support to those types of members to, among other things, offset their costs of full engagement on the Council.
However, there also may be commercial deals between Hedera and certain Council members, the terms of which typically are confidential. To prevent actual or perceived conflicts of interest or self-dealing, Hedera has adopted and adheres to a related party transaction policy that requires any commercial arrangement between Hedera and a related party, such as a Council member, that is of material financial value ($100,000 or more) to be reviewed by the General Counsel and approved by Hedera’s Board of Managers, with any interested Board members recusing themselves from the review and vote.