Bitcoin Forum

They represent us as a community, just curious how much the community knows about them.

I'm tired of this nonsense being spread. Let me be the first to say STFU.

No, they don't. This is a VERY COMMON misconception.

They represent their own interests within bitcoin.

They are a private club that has decided to give themselves an official sounding name. They were not elected to represent us, and they are not appointed by any higher power.

I could start my own club tomorrow and call it: "The Bitcoin Association".  I could fork the reference client in github, and along with a few friends, I could release my own fully compatible bitcoin client with the features that we want.  I could convince others to support my effort and donate bitcoins to our "Association".  This wouldn't make my organization any more representative of the community than "The Bitcoin Foundation".

I hear it is run by criminals.

Not much more than that really.

this

How about this I will pay for a trip for them to all come to DFW to be questioned by the btc community.

What nonsense is being spread? I am literally just asking how much people know about them, not spreading any "nonsense"

The idea for the Bitcoin Foundation was initially floated by Gavin.  It got widespread support on this forum.

When the organization did form I was a bit surprised that the price to get a seat at the table was so high.  IIRC, Karpeles paid 5,000 BTC for instance.  That was, to me, a bad omen but then I started out being negative toward it.  This still didn't phase most people and there was almost universal accolades for it.

I, and I think most people, didn't really know where Vessenes came from.  It turns out that he had already been around for a while and was involved in at least the Bitcoinica fiasco where a lot of people lost money.  It is unclear whether Vessenes pocketed some of the Bitcoinica money or not, nor is it clear whether he paid for his seat at (the head of) the table at the Bitcoin Foundation.  Perhaps the info is clear, but I've not seen it although I've not looked very hard.  The Bitcoin Foundation is not open and many of the details of the organization and their activities seem to be quite opaque.  This was, in fact, one of the things I was concerned about when the idea was in request for comments phase (Gavin's forum post.)

I've always given the Bitcoin Foundation a lot of credit for the money I've made off Bitcoin so far, but I do believe that they are a negative force and their activities will result in the eventual collapse and end of Bitcoin.  It might take some time however, and for my part I plan to try to capitalize on things monetarily to the best of my abilities.

FUD

The MK story was unfortunate for everyone. That said, the fall of Gox was only unexpected for the most gullible IMHO.

Anyway, MK is no longer part of the Bitcoin Foundation (and hasn't been proven a criminal yet either AFAIK)

And may I remind that Gavin Andersen, lead of the core devs, is employed and paid by the Bitcoin Foundation. Just saying.

Everyone can join the Bitcoin Foundation for a yearly fee that is currently about $30, if I'm not mistaken. It won't get you any superpowers, but you get access to a non-anonymous forum and get voting rights too.

Full disclaimer: I am a member of the Bitcoin Foundation

The whole point was to pay Gavin and other core devs a salary while providing a legal entity to deflect government attacks on Bitcoin. Instead it became a self-interest club where they could operate in total conflict of interest sitting on the foundation board and lobbying regulators to shut out their own competitors. They have almost no transparency, read what little you can on their forums about them misusing foundation dollars pay lawyers to go to luncheons with bank CEOs so yet another foundation board cretin can establish a relationship with a major bank for his personal corporation and claiming it will all benefit us.

why is the foundation opaque, with limited accessibility? Isn't bitcoin meant to be open source?

Could this be the greatest weakness of bitcoin ? By this I don't mean Gavin but the fact the foundation is his boss.

The more I learn of the foundation the less I like it.

If the bitcoin foundatoin is funded/ran by criminals like someone says, there are a few things you must consider first.

Bitcoin cannot survive properly if it revolves around criminal activity.  With all the members, there is just no way it is solely ran by criminals. If there are criminals involved, they'll eventually be caught, which will be big news (clearly these bitcoin criminals are not committing street crimes), which will bring the price of BTC down.  There seems to be an up and down pattern, and it appears to revolve around the criminal activity.  If it is entirely ran by criminals, then they are using the drops to their advantage because they have mastered the art of causing the price of btc to go up.  These accusations are not what Bitcoin was intended for.

Mt.Gox is no longer on there, which is a good thing.  It is relatively important that they not allow Jed and his mystery project back in, unless Jed finds a way to redeem himself, and quite frankly that will only happen if he pays back everyone that lost money.

Nobody appointed half the establishments, groups and organizations that the government has going on.  (I'm not even trying to get political here so don't go off subject)

Anyone can be a part of it.  If nobody paid, how will the foundation run itself?  That's not how business works.  Does that question their authenticity?  Any scam artist can join the foundation for some cash?

All these people are paying to pledge one mission.



I have to say, folks, if this is in any way shape or form a lie, then bitcoin will fail miserably, and turn into the black market currency, where anyone caught mining it, or even having it in their possession, will most likely be up for some type prosecution.

Here is the problem that most people don't see:  The same exact scams that are happening in the "bitcoin world" are also happening in the "fiat currency" world.  There are just new, and innovative ways being developed due to the technology that is bitcoin.  It has grabbed a lot of attention, from both honest and dishonest people.  As a decentralized currency, it is up to the honest people to prevail.  That is what I get when I go to the bitcoin foundation.  Too many years have people solely relied on government, that it has come to the day and age that an establishment like The Bitcoin Foundation is easily seen as fraudulent.  I see a lot of good, reputable companies and websites on their member list.  Companies that I feel are legit.

Every company is bound to have a bad apple.  These criminals will eventually be caught.  Depending on the severity, will determine the future of bitcoin.

So, it is up to the retarded criminals that THINK they can get away with this forever, and up to us honest people who will have to constantly battle these morons.  Morons because it is clear as day that an honest bitcoin community has 9999999x the potential yet they continue to commit crimes.  When they successfully steal all these BTC, and then they are worth nothing, they will just turn it into their own black market currency.  Good luck not getting shut down.

With that said, I am a strong supporter of the honest side of the bitcoin community, and I might plan on being a part of The Bitcoin Foundation but what I would like to see first is some kind of poll put up that shows that the bitcoin community as a whole has officially accepted The Bitcoin Foundation to represent us because clearly a lot of people do not accept them whatsoever, but they accept coindesk and coindesk is on their member list.

Not so.
Gavin's proposal was posted October 25, 2011, 08:13:25 PM here
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=49841.0


But there was this one week earlier posted by user freeminer
We need a Bitcoin Foundation for more trust
October 17, 2011, 08:34:10 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=48746.0

I don't know if Gavin missed the original or someone saw an opportunity to get a foothold in the running of bitcoin and put it to Gavin to propose it.

Why was no-one asking who would be the board members and would they be democratically elected, probably because it was Gavin proposing it and everybody trusts Gavin.

As it turns out, it seems the foundation has just been a place for "interested parties" to move bitcoin in their preffered direction.

Enough to know that I never want to be a part of them and that they don't represent me. ;)

Because it is a private club.  There are a lot of Private clubs in the world. This one just happens to be a private club of individuals that have an interest in Bitcoin.


Bitcoin is open source.  There is nothing preventing you from creating "The Bitcoin Association", and someone else from creating "The Bitcoin Club", and someone else from creating "The Bitcoin Group", and so on.

They do not represent me.

I would say they do not represent "the community", rather they represent positions that lead to sound and minimal regulation of bitcoin businesses. There is a wide diversity of opinions about how bitcoin should be treated. From pressing for a tax fee and totally anonymous system, to systems that track the history of coins.
Without an org like the foundation we will certainly face the most drastic government regulation possible. Laws will be made this year, there is no doubt. What those laws will be is the question.
If you believe in the wisdom of our politicians, then by all means do nothing. Perhaps they will understand Satoshi's vision and seek to advance the bitcoin economy? I doubt it. I think we are in the critical fight phase of crypto-currency and what happens in the next couple of years will determine the future of your profits. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
Why not find out for yourself what is going on at the BF?
https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/

EDIT: Fixed link

They represent only themselves.

They have no authority to represent anyone else.

They cannot represent me.

link leads to

Sorry, you don't have permission for that!

I know for a fact, having personally met him, that Andreas is an absolute fucking genius with good intentions.

Good enough for me.

It seems we have access to the foundation forums now.

Having just read this one thread I don't see any sign of professionalism or maybe it's more a lack of transparency, anyway the phrase "piss up in a brewery" springs to mind.

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/776-foundation-moving-to-the-uk/

also this thread

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/786-communication-from-the-foundation/

Oops, my bad. Here is a working link:
https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/


+1 Totally agree. You can sign on to the efforts the BF is advancing, but it should not speak for those who do not. Having said that, I think lawmakers are unaware of the desires of other bitcoiners. You will need to write them as individuals or organize more groups that espouse alternate positions. It will need to happen quickly, I suspect we are months away from permanent laws that we will live with for years. Speak up now! And not to each other, let your representatives know. Doing nothing will yield like results.
-Cheers   

I think they already represent everyone in the most significant way. They pay the people who write the code we all believe in.

Do I think its a good thing?  I do not.

It's run by criminals (i.e. Mark Karpeles and Charlie Shrem) and a hot Asian chick ("Satoshi's Angel")

And so it begins.. this is the future of bitcoin if the shit continues:

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/03/10/nouriel-roubini-bitcoin-is-a-ponzi-game/

they represent us, like it or not.

No  can do. They represent them self and try to help the Bitcoin Community. That is something entirely different.