Originally appeared at Bitcoinomics.Net
The Bitcoin Foundation has an image problem, and recently it took to Reddit to improve its reputation.
A common concern among the Bitcoin community is that The Bitcoin Foundation is playing softball with government agencies and paving the way for regulation on Bitcoin. Patrick Murck maintains that this is not the Foundation’s intentions:
I’ve found that bitcoin plays well with both political parties in US. Sometimes for different reasons. For us the strategy is to be a resource on the technical rules that govern bitcoin and the social contract that allows the bitcoin network to regulate itself. We can be that resource for politicians or other groups and associations doing work on the ground.
For a lot of the traditional financial companies (banks and other investors on Wall Street), regulation is seen as validation. Whether you agree with that or not, some level of appropriate regulation will bring in new participants to the bitcoin ecosystem and seems inevitable.
Keeping that regulation sane and focused on actual risks is important.
Still, others have other, more acute terms.
I just took the time to read all the comments to date to see if a certain concern had been addressed, opting to not search the page.
Sadly, it had not, but at least I was amused with all the softball questions that I can’t help myself from thinking some were contrived beforehand to control the narrative.
KnC Miner.
KnC Miner and The Bitcoin Foundation are on record in stating that the former paid the $100K USD fee to become a Platinum Member of TBF. TBF ONLY accepts memberships fees via a dedicated bitcoin wallet address, but said fee amount is nowhere to be found.
In spite of all the scuttlebutt on BitcoinTalk, TBF had yet to address concerns about said payment, in spite of such being an important issue at the time due to now/then KnC gaining unique voting rights for the then upcoming elections for vacated board seats in which Bobby Lee and Brock Pierce won.
Question: Where’s the proof that KnC Miner truly did pay for their Platinum Member to join The Bitcoin Foundation, given that such is no state secret because bitcoins were supposed to be used and full-transparency is what TBF adheres to?
~Bruno Kucinskas
The Bitcoin Foundation has yet to show the transaction on the Block Chain. Many people echo the concern of Bruno. As one user says,
It’s a shame nobody will see this. its pretty obvious that KnC miner got a waiver on the fee in exchange for their votes
In a recent blog post entitled “The Next Chapter,” Murck went over The Bitcoin Foundation’s focus for the coming year, highlighting mainly the Foundation’s intention to be more transparent. BitcoinTalk is voting now and at the time of printing 85% of users believed The Bitcoin Foundation to be a scam.
When Bitcoin Foundation was first started, their stated goals were lobbying, more or less, and marketing of Bitcoin to the public. Now, they say they will be focusing on development work for the protocol, effectively working to centralize a once decentralized open-source project.
Justin O’Connell is the Chief Executive Officer of GoldSilverBitcoin. He is also the author of the bitcoin book, Bitcoinomics, and administrator of the Bitcoinomics website. Justin is also a co-host at Our Very Own Special Show, a lifestyle podcast about music, news, life. He lives in San Diego, California.
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January 12, 2015
HORSES ALMOST DESTROYED NEW YORK CITY
By Laissez Faire Books
In 1880, the U.S. brought together a group they considered the world's smartest people to answer one pressing question…
What will New York City look like in 100 years?
New York was in full bloom. It was an unprecedented hub of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Yes, it was an exciting time to be a New Yorker. The world's first elevated train… underground subway… and with the first skyscraper in the hopper…
The Big Apple was changing how the world thought about — and lived — in cities.
So everyone was curious: What lies ahead for The City That Never Sleeps?
January 13, 2015
By TDV Contributor Scott Freeman
Imagine that you are the CEO and largest shareholder of Acme Nano-Widgets, a market leading widget manufacturer. Things aren’t looking so great for Acme this year, but this is not yet general knowledge. What do you do if you want to maximize the value of your stock holdings? Do you hold on and hope for the best? Or do you take an active role instead?
January 14, 2015
JULIA TOURIANSKI ON THE MOST IMPORTANT TRIAL OF OUR GENERATION
An interview with Julia Tourianksi by Jeff Berwick
In the early morning on January 5th, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, Bitstamp, stated, "We have reason to believe that one of Bitstamp’s operational wallets was compromised on January 4th, 2015. As a security precaution against compromises Bitstamp only maintains a small fraction of customer bitcoins in online systems. Bitstamp maintains more than enough offline reserves to cover the compromised bitcoins."
January 16, 2015
FIAT CURRENCY INSANITY – THE SWISS FRANC SHOCKER AND TEOTMSAWKI
By TDV Chief Editor, Jeff Berwick
Things are really starting to go off the rails now. The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI) is coming to a rapid, volatile end. It may not be this year but at this rate it would not surprise us if it was.
Many anti-bitcoiners like to point out the problem with bitcoin is that it is very volatile. And, they are right, it is an issue. Bitcoin recently flash crashed to nearly $150 and has now rebounded to over $200 as the Bitstamp exchange has re-opened without problem as we expected.
But bitcoin almost appears to be a beacon of stability compared to what is going on with the fiat currencies.
TDV VIDEOS
January 12, 2015
ANARCHAST: AIDEN GREGG: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ANARCHY!
Jeff interviews Aiden Gregg, a professor of psychology from the University of Southampton in England, topics include: Psychology, Michael Heumer, the spread of Libertarian ideas, the exponential growth in Anarchists numbers, status quo bias, political psychology, Students For Liberty, Saxation – a thought experiment, beefing up the taxation is theft argument, Bitcoin, Anarchapulco is going viral!
January 14, 2015
ANARCHAST: L DIXON: WAKE THE F@#K UP!
Jeff interviews Rapper and freedom fighter L – Dixon, topics include: the system is flawed!, Barry Cooper, getting people out of jail for victimless crimes, 30 years for marijuana seeds!, the war on drugs is a dark age, the framework for a new world is being built, decentralization, Bitcoin, 3D printers, the new system will render the old obsolete, the revolution/evolution will not be televised, seasteading, life in Mexico, Never Get Busted, Anarchapulco.
