Hedera Unviels New Partnership Program as Part of Major Council Overhaul AllinCrypto November 21, 2025
Hedera has begun a major expansion of its usual ecosystem model with a new partnership program designed to encourage more participation in its growing ecosystem from council members.
As the network scales with new partnerships and institutional adopters, the Hedera Council is inviting more organizations to contribute to its development through two new categories: Strategic Partners and Community Partners.
The new expansion is a significant overhaul of Hedera’s governance model, which is known to be the most institutional-friendly in the crypto industry. How will the new options affect the Hedera Council?
How is Hedera Expanding Network Participation Beyond Council Governance?
Since launching in 2019 with only six members, the Hedera Council has grown to include over 30 world-leading organizations, demonstrating a shared commitment to the network, with each member also running Hedera nodes.
The new partnership initiative allows a wider range of organizations to collaborate with Hedera without requiring formal Council membership. While only Council members can run nodes and vote on network decisions like a usual crypto DAO, new Strategic and Community partners gain pathways to shape real-world innovation, co-develop apps, and engage with the wider Hedera ecosystem.
Strategic Partners include enterprises such as fintechs and service providers that align closely with Hedera’s expertise, such as tokenization, AI, supply chain, sustainability, and digital identity.
These partners will be able to participate in working groups, gain technical support for building high-value use cases, collaborate with Council members, and gain expanded visibility via new marketing initiatives.
The aim of the expansion is to help major organizations accelerate the development of production-ready solutions on Hedera.
Community Partners will include startups, “system integrators, advocacy and community organizations”. They will have opportunities to collaborate with existing Council members, share their innovations across Hedera’s promotional channels, and develop co-branded case studies.
There will be a limit of up to 45 new Hedera Council Strategic Partners and “50+” Hedera Council Community Partners.
Overhauling the Council system has come after Hedera Hashgraph announced the HEAT initiative earlier this year. HEAT, led by Rob Allen of Australian Payments Plus, will provide structured support to Hedera Council Members to help them bring new ideas and solutions to life with ecosystem support.
From Hedera:
With the introduction of these new partnership categories, Hedera Council is broadening access to Council members, while reinforcing what makes the network unique: institutional governance, global representation, and enterprise-grade trust.
Hedera’s Innovation Strategy
By widening the pool of participants, fintechs and startups around the globe may have a chance to collaborate on solutions with leading enterprises such as IBM, Google, and DELL, members of the existing Hedera Council.
By offering structured ways for startups and organizations to engage in Hedera, the network is building a more collaborative environment without compromising its existing governance model.
Combined with HEAT, the new initiatives could shake up how enterprises interact with Hedera Hashgraph heading into the new year and throughout 2026.
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