Linux Foundation (of which Linus is an employee) is an US entity. RISC-V International foresaw this and chose to incorporate in Switzerland.

An update:

If your company is on the U.S. OFAC SDN lists, subject to an OFAC sanctions program, or owned/controlled by a company on the list, our ability to collaborate with you will be subject to restrictions, and you cannot be in the MAINTAINERS file.

(direct link)

This, but unironically used as a marketing trick:

There was no v1 of Oracle Database, as co-founder Larry Ellison “knew no one would want to buy version 1”

That’s why the first Oracle database is v2.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Database