In August, the Insider covered the news that the Payjoin contributors had launched the Payjoin Foundation, a non-profit organization with the goal to support free and open-source development of the Payjoin protocol and of the broader Bitcoin privacy ecosystem.
This week, Payjoin Foundation has finally received 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service, effective as of July 23rd, 2025.
The Payjoin Foundation aims to remove the friction for developers to contribute to the project. Its goal is to remove the need for each individual contributor to go through their own administrative process of applying for self-guided FOSS grants from disparate organizations. Instead, they can contribute to an existing team, letting them focus solely on writing code. The Foundation does not operate wallets, custody funds, or provide financial services.
Being a 501(c)(3) organization means, in simple terms, to be exempt from federal income tax and to be eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions in the U.S.
The Foundation’s mission is to advance practical privacy in peer-to-peer digital transactions. The new status will help fund projects like the Payjoin Dev Kit, future goals, and “development of infrastructure designed to endure.”
Check out the full blog post from Payjoin Foundation