WYDE is two separate legal entities, the same shape as AARP: an Association with 501(c)(4) status, and a separate 501(c)(3) Foundation. Two purposes, two addresses, two tax statuses.
The Association
Wyoming Decentralized Exchange Association
Wyoming DUNA501(c)(4)
The operating entity. It runs the Impact Exchange, issues and governs $EAT, and holds the on-chain treasury.
Legal form
Wyoming DUNA (Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association)
Signed the exclusive national partnership with Feed the Children in April 2026.
The Foundation
WYDE Foundation
501(c)(3) public charity
The separate charitable arm: it accepts tax-deductible donations on behalf of the causes and makes grants that grow them. It supports the causes, not the token.
Legal form
Charitable foundation
Tax status
501(c)(3) public charity, section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)
A platform that funds causes from everyday activity. Trading a cause’s coin and spending with its card create fees, and those fees fund the cause and pay the creators who spread it. EAT, for hunger, is the first cause on WYDE.
Who runs WYDE?
The Wyoming Decentralized Exchange Association, a Wyoming DUNA with 501(c)(4) status. It runs the platform and the Impact Exchange and issues $EAT. The WYDE Foundation, a separate 501(c)(3) public charity, is its charitable arm.
Who founded WYDE?
Martin Simms and Aaron Rafferty. Aaron Rafferty is WYDE’s Founding Director and writes for the WYDE Newsroom; see his author page.
Are gifts to WYDE tax-deductible?
Only gifts to the WYDE Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 41-4616267). Contributions to the Association, a 501(c)(4), are not tax-deductible, and buying or trading $EAT is not a charitable donation.
Where is WYDE based?
Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Association is at 1908 Thomes Ave, Suite 12204, and the Foundation at 1621 Central Ave, Suite 6222, both in Cheyenne, WY 82001.
How do I contact WYDE?
Email contact@wyde.org, or press@wyde.org for press. For Foundation giving, write to giving@wyde.org. Every official site and account is on Official links.
The Association: it publishes the EAT: Card app, and WYDE’s announcement calls the card “a Visa debit card from WYDE, the Wyoming Decentralized Exchange Association.” (WYDE Newsroom, 17 July 2026)
The card is “issued through the WYDE Foundation member program, in partnership with Crowded.” (eat.ong/card)
About WYDE, in fullEvery fact, with its source. Last checked November 5, 2026.Read it
What WYDE does
WYDE funds causes from everyday activity. Trading a cause's coin and spending with its card create fees, and those fees fund the cause and pay the creators who spread it. Support usually costs people money, time or posts and returns nothing, so it fades; on WYDE, helping a cause also helps the person doing it. In WYDE's words, it replaces the ask with participation.
Help a cause grow. It helps you back.
EAT is the first ecosystem on WYDE, for hunger: the $EAT token, the EAT Card, and EAT's programs for creators and restaurants. Its idea is "Everybody EATs." See What is WYDE? and How WYDE works.
Key facts
Name
WYDE
Legal name
Wyoming Decentralized Exchange Association
What it is
A platform that funds causes from everyday activity
Operating entity
The Association: a Wyoming DUNA with 501(c)(4) status
Charitable arm
WYDE Foundation: a 501(c)(3) public charity, exempt from March 3, 2026, EIN 41-4616267
Co-founders
Martin Simms and Aaron Rafferty
Headquarters
1908 Thomes Ave, Suite 12204, Cheyenne, WY 82001
First cause
EAT, for hunger. Its token, $EAT, launched on Base on December 10, 2025
@wydeorg on X, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, Twitch, Farcaster and Zora
The two entities
WYDE is two separate legal entities, and it matters that you keep them straight. The structure mirrors a model you may already know: AARP.
Just like AARP has the Association (a 501(c)(4) membership organization) and the AARP Foundation (a separate 501(c)(3) charity), WYDE has the Wyoming Decentralized Exchange Association and the WYDE Foundation.
Two entities, two purposes, two addresses, two tax statuses. Keeping them separate is deliberate and important.
The two entities at a glance
The Association
The Foundation
Name
Wyoming Decentralized Exchange Association
WYDE Foundation
Tax status
501(c)(4)
501(c)(3) public charity
Legal form
Wyoming DUNA (Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association)
Charitable foundation
Role
Runs the platform and the Impact Exchange; issues and governs $EAT
Receives and directs tax-deductible charitable support; issues food-donation receipts
Donations
Not tax-deductible (a 501(c)(4) social-welfare org)
Tax-deductible (a 501(c)(3) charity)
Address
1908 Thomes Ave, Suite 12204, Cheyenne, WY 82001
1621 Central Ave, Suite 6222, Cheyenne, WY 82001
EIN
41-4616267
Contact
contact@wyde.org
giving@wyde.org
The Association (501(c)(4) · DUNA)
The Wyoming Decentralized Exchange Association is the operating entity. It runs the Impact Exchange, issues and governs $EAT, and holds the on-chain treasury. It is organized as a Wyoming Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association (DUNA) with 501(c)(4) status, issued under Wyoming statute W.S. 17-32-101 et seq.
It signed the exclusive national partnership with Feed the Children in April 2026, and WYDE's reporting describes it as administering the hunger-relief grant program funded by trading fees.
A 501(c)(4) is a social-welfare organization. It can advance a mission and operate broadly, but contributions to it are not tax-deductible. This is where token holders take part and, once voting opens, vote (see Governance and the DUNA).
The Foundation (501(c)(3))
The WYDE Foundation is the separate charitable arm, a 501(c)(3) public charity under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (exempt from March 3, 2026; EIN 41-4616267). It is a cross-cause grant engine for charitable proliferation: it accepts tax-deductible donations on behalf of the causes and distributes grant funding to support the growth and exposure of the charitable causes themselves.
Crucially, the Foundation supports the causes, not the token. It does not promote or fund the price or trading of $EAT or any token. That firewall is what keeps the charitable side clean from a UBIT and securities standpoint.
Because it is a 501(c)(3), donations are tax-deductible, which opens the door to philanthropic capital, donor-advised funds, and institutions that can only give to qualified charities. It also issues food-donation receipts to restaurants that give meals. Reach it at giving@wyde.org or foundation.wyde.org↗. For the full grant-engine flywheel, see The WYDE Foundation↗.
Why the separation matters
Clean accountability. Charitable dollars flow through the 501(c)(3); the token economy operates through the 501(c)(4) DUNA. Each is governed and reported on its own terms.
Tax clarity. Only Foundation contributions are tax-deductible. Buying or trading $EAT is not a charitable donation; it is participation in the Association's token economy that funds meals through fees.
Credibility. The dual structure adds oversight on top of an already transparent, on-chain model, and is a recognized, well-understood shape (the same one AARP uses).
Leadership
WYDE was co-founded by Martin Simms and Aaron Rafferty. Aaron Rafferty is WYDE's Founding Director and writes for the WYDE Newsroom; see his author page.
The WYDE Newsroom
WYDE publishes the WYDE Newsroom, a free publication covering the impact economy: major gifts, crypto and tokenized giving, AI and robotics, the creator economy, and hunger and food systems. Stories about WYDE and EAT are labeled as WYDE's own updates and kept apart from the reporting. How the newsroom works, who funds it and its standards are on About the Newsroom, with the ethics policy and corrections policy.
Official links
The full list of WYDE's sites, accounts and addresses, and the $EAT contract, is on Official links. For press, see Press; for everything else, Contact.
