Cayman Islands sees rising Web3 foundation activity

• Cayman foundation registrations surge as Web3 projects seek safer, liability-shielded structures.
• DAOs turn to Cayman models after US rulings raise risks for unwrapped decentralised organisations.
• New OECD reporting rules take effect in 2026, but most DAO treasury foundations may remain exempt.

The Cayman Islands is recording a sharp rise in foundation company registrations as Web3 projects reassess where to base their legal entities.

New figures show a strong year-on-year jump in these registrations, signalling how the jurisdiction is becoming a preferred destination for decentralised projects seeking legal clarity.

The growth began gathering pace toward the end of 2024 and has already carried into 2025, with communities and developers looking for structures that can support expanding ecosystems.

The trend reflects how recent legal developments, particularly in the United States, are prompting DAOs and Web3 organisations to seek more predictable, liability-shielding frameworks.

DAO structure shifts

Foundation companies in the Cayman Islands are increasingly being used as legal wrappers for DAOs and as ecosystem stewards for major Web3 networks.

Registrations now include more than 1,300 entities at the end of 2024 and over 400 newly formed in 2025.

Cayman Finance reports that many leading Web3 projects have chosen the jurisdiction, including at least 17 foundations that oversee treasuries above the hundred-million threshold.

These entities allow DAOs to sign agreements, manage intellectual property, hire contributors, and interact with regulators without exposing tokenholders to personal liability.

The shift accelerated after the Samuels v. Lido DAO decision in 2024, where a US federal court found that an unwrapped DAO could be treated as a general partnership under California law.

This prompted many communities to reassess their structures.

The Cayman model provides separate legal personality and ownership capabilities that help plug this liability gap.

Add tax neutrality and a framework familiar to institutional allocators, and the jurisdiction becomes attractive to projects that need both compliance readiness and operational flexibility.

Global Web3 competition

Jurisdictions worldwide are trying to position themselves for the next wave of Web3 growth.

The US has made repeated political pledges about becoming a global crypto hub, particularly under President Donald Trump, yet only a few states explicitly recognise DAOs as legal persons.

This leaves many organisations navigating fragmented rules at the entity level.

Switzerland remains a major onshore centre for Web3 foundations, with the Crypto Valley region now hosting more than 1,700 active blockchain firms and recording growth of over 130% since 2020.

Foundations and associations have become an increasingly important part of this expansion, although projects continue to diversify their jurisdictional footprints in search of structures aligned with their long-term plans.

Compliance changes

The rise in Cayman-based Web3 foundations coincides with a major regulatory shift.

The Cayman Islands has implemented the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, with new Tax Information Authority regulations taking effect from January 1, 2026.

The framework brings due diligence and reporting requirements for “Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers,” covering entities that exchange crypto for fiat or other crypto, operate trading platforms, or provide custodial services.

These entities will need to collect tax-residence information from users, track specific transactions, and submit annual reports to the Tax Information Authority.

Legal professionals note that the rules are expected to apply only to service providers engaged in exchange or brokerage activity.

Structures that merely hold crypto assets, such as protocol treasuries, investment funds, or passive foundations, are likely to fall outside this reporting scope under the current interpretation.

This suggests that many DAO-related foundations that act purely as ecosystem stewards or treasury vehicles may continue to benefit from Cayman’s legal certainty without assuming full reporting duties, so long as they are not running exchange, brokerage, or custody operations.

As Web3 organisations mature and adapt to evolving compliance landscapes, the Cayman Islands appears set to remain a central node in the global distribution of decentralised governance structures.

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