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Title: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: BruceFenton on April 14, 2015, 05:04:04 PM Hi,
The Board just appointed me as the new Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation. The organization has had its fair share of challenges but is here to stay and we all want to work hard to have it be as valuable as possible to Bitcoin. Please share your advice, thoughts and ideas. Some things that I'm planning to focus on is to increase decentralization, making use of crowd funding for projects, use more volunteers and member engagement and to focus on high impact, low cost activities such as a speakers bureau and educational meetings. I'd love to hear constructive thoughts that we can use to make plans going forward. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ashour on April 14, 2015, 05:23:07 PM My advice to the bitcoin foundation is to invest more in marketing. Bitcoin lacks marketing and that's its still not gone mainstream, the bitcoin foundation needs more members with business skills that can "sell" the bitcoin idea. I would suggest that half of the bitcoin foundation funds to be invested in marketing teams, pr team , marketing deals and etc. Try to engage popular mainstream apps/sites to aceept and adopt bitcoin. Bitcoin lacks in marketing and this needs to be fixed.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Prosperityforall on April 14, 2015, 06:10:36 PM Make a bitcoin foundation exchange or something similar, fund the core developers from the profits.
The bitcoin foundation does not need to represent bitcoin, it has failed doing so horribly, so its best to do the only thing it has ever succeeded in doing, funding the core devs. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: xDan on April 14, 2015, 06:14:26 PM > making use of crowd funding for projects
If the BF somehow spearheaded crowdfunding of some amount of core dev? That would be inspiring. Rather than its pot of money going to dev directly, instead going to raise awareness of crowdfunding campaigns. Meta-funding. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: SpanishSoldier on April 14, 2015, 06:16:58 PM Looks like they found leadership in you after organizing Satoshi Roundtable (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=934599.0). ;)
Do you understand that it is simply a hunt for deep pockets ? Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Cruxer on April 14, 2015, 06:18:38 PM Quote How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director By me, try not to make Bitcoin bad press, as your organisation did several times.After that, anything is value added to Bitcoin case. Good luck! :) Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Alley on April 14, 2015, 06:18:46 PM Marketing. Need to educate people that its not for criminals. Need to have merchants that accept it give a discount so the people have a reason to use it over a credit card.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: JayCoDon on April 14, 2015, 06:26:07 PM Get the finances in order, focus in one a few projects rather than everything, and help develop the brand of bitcoin. I need businesses to know that it is a viable way of making overseas payments, paying vendors, etc.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: xDan on April 14, 2015, 06:32:09 PM Marketing. Need to educate people that its not for criminals. +1, goddamit all that "pedo" news over the last day needs to be countered.Need some media friendly examples of the good uses of Bitcoin. I can imagine some kind of videoblog/series. "Following Bitcoin around the world!" Heartwarming interview with family in [wherever] using it for cheaper remittances. Patrick Byrne telling the world how much he's saving on payment processing fees. Guy from China using it in import/export. Web dev in [some place PayPal hates] being hired by somebody in the US. Etc. Propaganda, propaganda! Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: newIndia on April 14, 2015, 06:43:31 PM I think you may follow the model of Y-combinator. Invest in different promising bitcoin startups across the globe and hold a share of them. Banks do not help bitcoin startups, but you can and this will give you long term return which may be used to fund core development and other educational activities across the globe.
Personally, I would love to see a bitcoin conference organized by The Bitcoin Foundation in India. If you need help in contacting the bigwigs of Indian bitcoin community, then I may help you. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ed_teech on April 14, 2015, 07:05:10 PM Attract money into the ecosystem. Mining produces too much coins, makes a supply surplus.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: QuestionAuthority on April 14, 2015, 07:22:06 PM You have your own forum, go back there and cheerlead. If you want to drum up new contributors/donors to TBF have a bake sale. Most of the people on this forum are Bitcoin users and enthusiasts not businessmen looking for a quick buck. TBF has been too polluted and too U.S. centric since its formation. If Mahatma Gandhi crawled out of his grave to run TBF I still wouldn't have anything to do with them.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: RodeoX on April 14, 2015, 07:24:58 PM A few interesting ideas here. And thank you Bruce for opening it up to the larger community.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ashour on April 14, 2015, 07:30:18 PM I think you may follow the model of Y-combinator. Invest in different promising bitcoin startups across the globe and hold a share of them. Banks do not help bitcoin startups, but you can and this will give you long term return which may be used to fund core development and other educational activities across the globe. I agree, the bitcoin foundation should help and embrace bitcoin startups and help them grow. More bitcoin companies will help to grow the bitcoin eco system.Personally, I would love to see a bitcoin conference organized by The Bitcoin Foundation in India. If you need help in contacting the bigwigs of Indian bitcoin community, then I may help you. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: the joint on April 14, 2015, 07:31:28 PM My advice would be to focus on transparency, transparency, and more transparency. The Foundation, in my opinion, is not necessary, and I certainly don't trust it to avoid self-serving interests.
I don't think the Foundation will do much of anything, nor do I think it's really done much of anything to this point. I don't see any reason why the entire community shouldn't be able to review, for example, meeting minutes, etc. Basically, the Foundation comes off as being a 'Good ol' Boys' club. I do not currently view the foundation as serving any important or necessary purpose. Maybe transparency could convince me otherwise. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Last of the V8s on April 14, 2015, 07:49:39 PM How can you help the sun?
How can you help gravity? Like bitcoin, these things do not need help. Help yourself and get out fast. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: DooMAD on April 14, 2015, 07:54:09 PM If the Foundation is supposed to be an advocacy/campaigning/marketing/lobbying entity, try to be seen doing more of that. And try to do it in a way that's as open and transparent as the blockchain itself. Publish more of what you're doing on social media. Show the world that you're actually getting the message out there. To most of us, the Foundation has been practically invisible apart from the more negative headlines they seem to have attracted up to this point. Best of luck in trying to turn it around, but I think it's going to be a tough challenge.
Basically, the Foundation comes off as being a 'Good ol' Boys' club. I'll echo this sentiment. Up to this point it has come across as reclusive and even somewhat shady at times. I hope this will be a turning point and you can claw back some credibility. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Last of the V8s on April 14, 2015, 07:58:24 PM Bitcoin Association
Bitcoinassociation.Org -from your current sig. what's this other/same thing you founded with Buterin et al.? Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: PolarPoint on April 14, 2015, 08:09:10 PM The bitcoin foundation should promote bitcoin globally, help bitcoin startups. The best way is to have regional branches of the foundation with information on local law and regulations.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: NyeFe on April 14, 2015, 08:28:41 PM More regular meetups and hackathons, needs to be created in at least 3 different cities of every country annually. We need to specifically target developers and entrepreneurs, because they will be the ones who develop and market Bitcoin related services to consumers, which will consequently attract more users to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
If you're using funds to target users, instead of funding Bitcoin based startups or marketing to developers, what do you really expect the user to do with the knowledge? It's like educating a consumer about the TCP/IP protocol. Yes the user can download a Bitcoin client and send or receive funds if they're thought how to, but why would they do it? and why should they, if there's easier and less complicated alternatives such as PayPal or Skrill. Educational applications for computer science, specifically targeting cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin) needs to be created and readily available for educational institutes. We need to have more software and algorithmic building kits available for students, which could be used to teach them about developing Bitcoin services, and it's advantages. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Armis on April 14, 2015, 08:56:49 PM Hi, The Board just appointed me as the new Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation. The organization has had its fair share of challenges but is here to stay and we all want to work hard to have it be as valuable as possible to Bitcoin. Please share your advice, thoughts and ideas. Some things that I'm planning to focus on is to increase decentralization, making use of crowd funding for projects, use more volunteers and member engagement and to focus on high impact, low cost activities such as a speakers bureau and educational meetings. I'd love to hear constructive thoughts that we can use to make plans going forward. Congratulations on your appointment, I wish you the best. Here are some things I think you should seriously consider: 1) allow the foundation to be the parent company for those around the world who wish to be agents so that they could defray the licensing costs associated with being a business seller of bitcoins. Other benefits of enrollment could be: e/o bonding, insurance, bail, and discounted legal services (like prepaid legal). 2) create a certification program for all of the relevant service sectors so that such service pros can be 'known' to a core segment of the community, thereby reducing scams by having a larger more accountable service sector. 3) produce at least 1 documentary style movie a year highlighting lots of good that takes place in the CC universe 5) have a 3 day convention capped by an award ceremony to recognize those who have done much in the past year to benefit bitcoin -- make sure that everything associated with the convention can be paid for with btc and 6) become a PICISI sponsor then sponsor individual campaigns that would educate school administrators around the world in CC Science: CC code writing, CC mining, CC investing, CC block chain, and CC service business. So that CC is taught in schools around the world. BTC is the CC leader that the wider world looks at to judge the industry, find ways to do good, do it, then tell everyone repeatedly that you did it. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: cyberpinoy on April 14, 2015, 09:09:07 PM I think the first thing you should do is stop dumping your coins because the foundation is broke. News about the fact the Bitcoin Foundation has no more money is spreading like wildfire, its a bit hard to meet some of the suggestions without any money.
I am not sure if I were you if I would be proud or insulted. They are broke and then poof a brand new exec. hmmmmmm seems your predecessors have dumped all their coins driving the value thru the ground and then threw all the problems in your lap. So that being said your first order of business should be to find some new investors and get some cash to back the foundation up again. Not to mention the new flaw they just found that has put such a panic in investors they are all dumping right now and getting out before the hackers get a hold of this and really maximize on it. I mean why hack an exchange when you can easily just hack someones wallet directly. Ask Paycoin how that feels it seems they may have already been the first victim (and i use that word loosely) of this new flaw that has been discovered. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Snail2 on April 14, 2015, 09:11:13 PM More transparency, and involving the community in high level planning would be useful.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ChuckBuck on April 14, 2015, 09:25:23 PM Is this a scam account? Why would his signature link to the Bitcoinassociation.org instead of https://bitcoinfoundation.org/ ? If you scan the posts on the Bitcoinassociation.org website, it's all dated posts from 2014 with no timely updates. Sketchy.
Also, if you click brucefenton profile link it shows next to website "Bitcoin Association" https://i.imgur.com/dd0or2A.png But if you happen to click on that link, it links back to his Bitcointalk profile page. Not sure I want someone that can't update their linked website or their Bitcointalk profile page in charge of the Bitcoin Foundation... Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: BruceFenton on April 14, 2015, 09:31:13 PM Bitcoin Association Bitcoinassociation.Org -from your current sig. what's this other/same thing you founded with Buterin et al.? Yes, I'm going to step down as president and take a less active role but still remain involved...and will also update the sig! Thanks Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: BruceFenton on April 14, 2015, 09:36:40 PM Is this a scam account? Why would his signature link to the Bitcoinassociation.org instead of https://bitcoinfoundation.org/ ? If you scan the posts on the Bitcoinassociation.org website, it's all dated posts from 2014 with no timely updates. Sketchy. Also, if you click brucefenton profile link it shows next to website "Bitcoin Association" https://i.imgur.com/dd0or2A.png But if you happen to click on that link, it links back to his Bitcointalk profile page. Not sure I want someone that can't update their linked website or their Bitcointalk profile page in charge of the Bitcoin Foundation... I've updated the profile. My work with Bitcoin Association pre-dated yesterday's announcement with Bitcoin Foundation -- I'll still be involved with Bitcoin Association but my main focus is Bitcoin Foundation Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Last of the V8s on April 14, 2015, 09:38:37 PM Bitcoin Association Bitcoinassociation.Org -from your current sig. what's this other/same thing you founded with Buterin et al.? Yes, I'm going to step down as president and take a less active role but still remain involved...and will also update the sig! Thanks Ok that's the trivial bit. Now can you just somehow magically realise there is nothing you can do for or against bitcoin. It exists, with or without you. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: pereira4 on April 14, 2015, 09:44:30 PM My advice is that you hire someone like Andreas Antonopoulous to do the marketing. Then again, I wouldn't like to see him affected by corruption of other members of the Bitcoin Foundation, like has happened before.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: DooMAD on April 14, 2015, 09:54:10 PM My advice is that you hire someone like Andreas Antonopoulous to do the marketing. Then again, I wouldn't like to see him affected by corruption of other members of the Bitcoin Foundation, like has happened before. It's unlikely he would accept the role unless he felt the foundation had truly changed for the better. Andreas was a member of the foundation at one point, but left it because he didn't agree with the way it was being run (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=684354.0). Besides, he's doing an exemplary job on his own. Why mess with a winning formula? But on a similar note, if the foundation managed to achieve a similar impact to the work Andreas is doing, but using their own personnel, it might start the recovery process. If we start to see both transparency and results, the foundation might have a chance at winning back some support and trust from the wider community. It will probably take a while, though. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ChuckBuck on April 14, 2015, 09:54:42 PM Is this a scam account? Why would his signature link to the Bitcoinassociation.org instead of https://bitcoinfoundation.org/ ? If you scan the posts on the Bitcoinassociation.org website, it's all dated posts from 2014 with no timely updates. Sketchy. Also, if you click brucefenton profile link it shows next to website "Bitcoin Association" -snip- But if you happen to click on that link, it links back to his Bitcointalk profile page. Not sure I want someone that can't update their linked website or their Bitcointalk profile page in charge of the Bitcoin Foundation... I've updated the profile. My work with Bitcoin Association pre-dated yesterday's announcement with Bitcoin Foundation -- I'll still be involved with Bitcoin Association but my main focus is Bitcoin Foundation Well that's one step in the right direction! Updating the profile after facing some constructive criticism is a good sign. :) Hopefully you can help steer the Bitcoin Foundation in the right direction after all the bankruptcy news, all the departures, the in fighting, the dubious membership... Help the BF shine light on BTC in media, in partnerships, in events that'll expose Bitcoin as positive force besides it's obvious monetary concept. Fundraisers and charities! Co-sponsor events with BitGive or like Bitpesa for example, organizations that show Bitcoin can be used at it's greatest levels. Make us proud of the Bitcoin Foundation, Bruce! Shake off the stench from Karpeles, Shrem, and Pierce. Prove that the BF is an organization that will filter out the members, and select wisely, not just from a industry standpoint, but from a character standpoint. Only thing I associate "good" about the BF is the Bitcoin Core wallet updates...besides that, ehh. Even Bitcoin Core's latest 0.10.0 update "only" takes a few hours to sync the Blockchain if you have a decent connection, decent CPU, and an SSD hard drive. The masses that are interested in Bitcoin's defacto wallet deserve better than a wallet that takes hours just to use. This will need to change if we're going to reach mainstream adoption. I'm sure you've heard alot of these quibbles, but if you haven't, thanks for lending an ear. Just my 2 satoshis. Chuck Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Mikestang on April 14, 2015, 09:59:43 PM Some things that I'm planning to focus on is to increase decentralization, Hi, Bruce. I always find it interesting that decentralized bitcoin has a centralized foundation. I was wondering how this setup coexists with the underlying bitcoin philosophy? Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: RocketSingh on April 14, 2015, 10:05:33 PM Some things that I'm planning to focus on is to increase decentralization, Hi, Bruce. I always find it interesting that decentralized bitcoin has a centralized foundation. I was wondering how this setup coexists with the underlying bitcoin philosophy? If you understand how a decentralized product like Tor works with a centralized dev team, it would be easier for you to understand. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Alley on April 14, 2015, 11:46:58 PM There needs to be a clear reason given to people as a reason to adopt and use bitcoin over credit cards.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: johnyj on April 15, 2015, 12:05:18 AM Security
People still feel unsafe about many aspects of bitcoin, this is the biggest barrier for them to put serious value in bitcoin. What if one day I opened my wallet and found the coins are all gone??? For example, foundation can act as an authority to recommend the most safe software/hardware and security procedures regarding the store and spending of bitcoin. You need a code review team to test the robustness of each current solution and find the best practice Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: tribefan89 on April 15, 2015, 12:07:24 AM Security People still feel unsafe about many aspects of bitcoin, this is the biggest barrier for them to put serious value in bitcoin. What if one day I opened my wallet and found the coins are all gone??? For example, foundation can act as an authority to recommend the most safe software/hardware and security procedures regarding the store and spending of bitcoin. You need a code review team to test the robustness of each current solution and find the best practice Def this. Security is probably most peoples biggest concern. There are plenty of ways for people to get to "know" bitcoin but if they don't feel safe they won't buy. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: cryptozulu on April 15, 2015, 12:20:33 AM Hi Bruce, Best of luck in the drivers seat!
I am from South Africa, and briefly scanning over some of the areas of focus you suggest, I can already tick the boxes as a win, especially for Africa and the developing countries Africa and the unbanked can benefit a great deal from Bitcoin, no need to explain that i think everyone knows that by now. The interesting thing is we are working on exactly what you speak of over here: Education and Training on Bitcoin Crowd Funding - This is a real simple way of showing people exactly what can be done. People here need to know first and foremost the "Why" part of Bitcoin, then one moves to the "What" like apps and wallets etc.. We built our business with the "Why" part in mind. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Mikestang on April 15, 2015, 04:13:01 AM Some things that I'm planning to focus on is to increase decentralization, Hi, Bruce. I always find it interesting that decentralized bitcoin has a centralized foundation. I was wondering how this setup coexists with the underlying bitcoin philosophy? If you understand how a decentralized product like Tor works with a centralized dev team, it would be easier for you to understand. I understand a centralized dev team, of course, but the foundation is more than just that. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: TippingPoint on April 15, 2015, 04:48:10 AM I'd love to hear constructive thoughts that we can use to make plans going forward. Thank you for asking. I know you won't like all the suggestions, but even asking for them in a public forum takes courage. My suggestions include:
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ThomasCrowne on April 15, 2015, 05:17:53 AM I think it would be nice to see the following:
1) More transparency insofar as how Foundation funds are being spent. 2) More focus on General Education type programs for the not so technically inclined boys and girls. 3) And oh yeah, did I mention more focus on Education? (get into the schools, educate them while they are young) Widespread acceptance of bitcoin or it's like is going to take sometime. Hopefully I'll get to see it in my lifetime but I have a feeling the battle between the fiat-established mega crops and the freedom loving crypto enthusiasts is going to take decades to ultimately play out. Regardless, sharing the pure decentralized p2p nature of bitcoin with the youth is really where the long term success for bitcoin lays imho. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Kprawn on April 15, 2015, 05:42:48 AM The most important thing, should be "transparency" .... This whole "cloak n dagger" thing, turns people against the foundation and it's goals.
I am glad the focus will also be decentralization ..... "tick" The funding of the Core Dev's salaries are the biggest concerns... {Let them code, and leave the marketting to experts} The foundation should be represented by global membership ....{ Bitcoin is global, and not just US based } Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: cryptozulu on April 15, 2015, 08:24:27 AM One of the first things we did was apply to the foundation for representation here, to allow for growth and adoption with the foundation's support, never did get feedback but we still feel having a representative office or a partnership with the foundation here to provide insight is highly important.
Expand the reach and do so with a focus on Africa and you will garner real relationships and build that trust. We have been approached by high profile people in the digital abd banking space showing keen interest in Bitcoin but knowing very very little of it as discussions continued. So again, educate! Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: zircon on April 15, 2015, 09:21:47 AM 1. Create clusters of Bitcoin ecosystems. This woudl include a place you can buy and spend Bitcoins. Holy grail really of all of this. There is not much more to Bitcoin than enabling people access to Bitcoin and then giving them places to spend it.
2. I'm not sure how to market this, but it would be wise to propogate the idea that Bitcoins cannot be printed at will like Fiat currency, and that it equals in many ways financial freedom to the end user (the sting in the tail is more responsibility on the end user, but not much more). 3. Bring Bitcoin to the unbanked. I live in South Africa - and I feel there is a great need for it throughout Africa. This includes the runaway printing of money/currencies that several African countries experience, along with a greater visibility for corruption should Africa decide to use the blockchain. It has been demonstrated that M-Pesa works extremely well - Bitcoin as far as my understanding goes is quite close in function to this. The people here are not afraid to use phones and a new currency I believe. I am open to assisting in Africa should the need arise. I am the author of CoinATMRadar iOS app and own the first Bitcoin ATM in Africa. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: BruceFenton on April 15, 2015, 04:33:50 PM Transparency is the number one most common request --
Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ashour on April 15, 2015, 04:51:05 PM Transparency is the number one most common request -- Agree, more transparency and more communication with the bitcoin community would help to build a confidence between bitcoin community and the bitcoin foundation.Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Lethn on April 15, 2015, 04:58:03 PM Disband your organisation and stop taking other peoples' money.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Pentax on April 15, 2015, 05:23:52 PM Transparency is the number one most common request -- Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent yep, I imagine it is a big one. there is obviously a lot of skepticism towards the foundation at this point. this has nothing to do with you, naturally, but it is there, so rebuilding the reputation of the foundation is critical. I think that something has to be done in terms of the transparency of the backgrounds of the members. Too many previous members found themselves on the wrong side of the law it seems. My recommendation there is a strict ethics policy for members, which should be open to review by anyone. what that policy would be would of course be subject to debate. what personal information members would have to disclose would also be subject to debate. The penalty for breach is clear: they're out. end of story. Clean house and keep it clean. Also some system of prerequisites if it does not already exist. No felons, no-one with a history of financial criminality of any sort. The other factor is conflict of interest of members. A concern of a lot of folks out there I think is that, as with any centralized 'authority', the opportunity and the temptation is there to manipulate things for personal financial gain. Disclosures on investments, interests etc of members in the bitcoin ecosystem and the conventional financial system would be critical, as would be a stiff penalty for omitting any information as outlined as mandatory to submit. This would include past history of interests, workplaces, associations etc., not only where they are now, but where they've been. this is obviously loose and somewhat off the cuff but the jist is repairing the image and getting people in there that are clean, are not doing this for their own enrichment, and making sure it stays that way to the greatest extent possible. thanks for the outreach. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: RodeoX on April 15, 2015, 05:25:59 PM Disband your organisation and stop taking other peoples' money. Not sure what money they have "taken"? I GAVE them money. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Armis on April 15, 2015, 05:30:40 PM Transparency is the number one most common request -- Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent Your board determines how to define the word "transparency" and how it is treated within the org, to that extent you owe your board transparency and your board owes its members transparency. By extension, and as a matter of expected norm (which is why you are here) the CC community also has come to expect a degree of transparency of you, the board, and the btc foundation even though 99.99999999% of the bitcoin owners are not members of the bitcoin foundation. Take the defacto CC universe leadership opportunity to lead the industry in the way it should go. see my first post to this thread. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ashour on April 15, 2015, 05:35:53 PM Transparency is the number one most common request -- Do more AMA's on reddit or do more meetups world wide, try to engage with the bitcoin and crypto currency community. Built bridges not walls, you have build confidence to the bitcoin community to make bitcoin grow. A connective, open and focused community is the key to build a successful foundation.Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: QuestionAuthority on April 15, 2015, 06:16:09 PM Can you comment on this:
Source: https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/1284-the-truth-about-the-bitcoin-foundation/ Quote When I joined on my first Board meeting, Jim Harper and myself immediately put forward a vote to have the board meeting recorded. We followed Robert’s rules of orders, and everyone else basically shut us down and failed to follow procedures. There were “more urgent” things to discuss (as you will see later, the urgent pattern was an excuse to just continue on their course and shut us up). It was critical for us to vote on a plan that would save the Foundation. When I mentioned that such a critical vote is all the more reason to make sure the whole meeting gets recorded, I was ignored. The Bitcoin Foundation hates transparency. If they would have been transparent then everyone would know there is no money left. Something I think the members have a right to know, wouldn’t you think? Members have a right to know that the current board failed to tell them the truth, and that their way of running the organization resulted in it going bankrupt. But instead of taking responsibility, they want to find the next executive director, that will come up with another magic plan. Ironically, being transparent from the start might have prevented this whole thing to begin with. Everyone has the right to know the truth: - The Foundation has almost no money left, and just fired 90% of its people. Some will stay on as volunteers. - Core dev can no longer be funded by it, and Patrick Murck is trying to re-create a new Foundation just for core dev, because the current name is tarnished. Do not fall for this. - The current Executive Director (Patrick Murck), will be gone in 2 weeks, and they are trying to find the next person to blame everything on. - Jim Harper was threatened for doing a press release which was (barely) critical of the Foundation after he got elected. The Foundation tries to make sure we hide the truth by subtly threatening us on a regular basis. - If I get asked to leave the Foundation for telling the truth, so be it. The truth is being told. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: coinpr0n on April 15, 2015, 07:16:51 PM Secure enough funding for the developers and maybe work towards having a larger international reach and presence.
Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ashour on April 15, 2015, 07:19:22 PM Secure enough funding for the developers and maybe work towards having a larger international reach and presence. More funding into marketing would be important as well, to make bitcoin go mainstream and make it more popular for the masses.Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: the joint on April 16, 2015, 02:56:00 PM Transparency is the number one most common request -- Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent I would like to see an archive of meeting minutes and corresponding dates. Written transcripts are great. Having them coupled with audio transcripts is also great when possible. Basically, if any concrete and significant decisions are made, I would like to see the discussions precluding whatever action is taken. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: ChuckBuck on April 16, 2015, 03:11:43 PM Besides the beaten to death consensus #1 gripe about the Bitcoin Foundation, Transparency, we need to get Bitcoin out there to the masses.
Promotion. http://coinabul.com/images/bitcoinflyer.png Make infographics and web flyers continuosly like this one. Make it easy to read so the common man gets the message fast. Marketing and Advertising. http://insidebitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/BitcoinBowlTV-640.jpg Need more Bitcoin Bowls and things of the like. Put a QR code on like an MMA fighter or advertise in lower level sporting events to start. Put Bitcoin's name all over an eSports or Action sports event. Keep advertising! Strategic Partnerships. http://siliconangle.com/files/2014/09/paypal-bitcoin.jpg Partner with companies that make sense. Partner Bitcoin Foundation with social media channels, like Linked In or Pinterest. Charities. http://gettoknowbitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/bitgive.jpg Connect with United Way, Red Cross, Wounded Warrior or the like. Have Charity fundraisers in Bitcoin. There's so many ways the Bitcoin Foundation can do good for Bitcoin and it's community, hopefully the new leadership will take heed. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Armis on April 16, 2015, 03:35:08 PM Besides the beaten to death consensus #1 gripe about the Bitcoin Foundation, Transparency, we need to get Bitcoin out there to the masses. Promotion. http://coinabul.com/images/bitcoinflyer.png Make infographics and web flyers continuosly like this one. Make it easy to read so the common man gets the message fast. Marketing and Advertising. http://insidebitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/BitcoinBowlTV-640.jpg Need more Bitcoin Bowls and things of the like. Put a QR code on like an MMA fighter or advertise in lower level sporting events to start. Put Bitcoin's name all over an eSports or Action sports event. Keep advertising! Strategic Partnerships. http://siliconangle.com/files/2014/09/paypal-bitcoin.jpg Partner with companies that make sense. Partner Bitcoin Foundation with social media channels, like Linked In or Pinterest. Charities. http://gettoknowbitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/bitgive.jpg Connect with United Way, Red Cross, Wounded Warrior or the like. Have Charity fundraisers in Bitcoin. There's so many ways the Bitcoin Foundation can do good for Bitcoin and it's community, hopefully the new leadership will take heed. "There's so many ways the Bitcoin Foundation can do good for Bitcoin and it's community" and one of those ways is sponsoring those initiatives that also support the coint, technology, and community. Here is the currency PICISI sponsor list: www.ArmisGame.com / The Einsteinium News / Crypto Cloud Hosting / Bitcoin PR Buzz / Crypto Database / Einsteinium (EMC2) / Metal Coin / HYPER (HYPER) Hobonickels (HBN) / Energy Coin (ENRG) / Artsry Coin / GSM Coin (GSM) / Sativacoin (STV) / Magi Coin (XMG) / HTML5 (HTML5) / Coin2 (Coin2) / Aricoin (ARI) It would be really nice to see the Bitcoin Foundation included on our sponsor list. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: BruceFenton on April 17, 2015, 05:25:06 PM Thank you everyone for the suggestions.
I'll be working on providing more information in the coming weeks. Title: Re: How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director Post by: Beliathon on April 17, 2015, 05:43:53 PM Congratulations Bruce, glad to see a respectable name take the position.
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