Bitcoin Forum

Here is the link:

http://two-bit-idiot.tumblr.com/post/79070783038/concession

I generally think, that if there was a serious corruption and such in TBF, it should be exposed, but I definitely feel relieved. We had so much media circus last couple of days ...

Moreover, TBI was spot on with MtGox leaks, but his stance on TBF sounded fishy from the beginning and I was among apparent majority that was expecting his news would turn up underwhelming.  Sounds like the poor guy believed he was a porphet after Mt Gox story.

Wonder what your reaction was?

EDIT: title typo

[http://two-bit-idiot.tumblr.com/post/79070783038/concession  assist]

"The Two-Bit Idiot
I'm an entrepreneur and former VC who makes the business case for #Bitcoin on its journey from speculative investment to world-changing utility. Truth-teller.

You can sign up for my daily bitcoin news digest, the "Daily Bit" by visiting: http://eepurl.com/JgGy5

Concession

Dear Idiots,

I’m not going to bury the lead; I am not publishing the article tomorrow that I said I was going to on Friday.  

In fact, I never intended to (not yet anyway), and I certainly never intended to loop in the main-stream media so that they could pile on to our fledgling community.  I simply hoped that a deadline would pressure Jon and Peter to resign quickly (and appropriately).

While my accusations on Friday were 100% truthful, I now see that I have overplayed my hand.  Rather than go all-in with a losing hand, I’m mucking my cards.  I never anticipated this degree of backlash from within the community.  As such, any further efforts to publicly push for resignations are not well-focused, and I plan to turn down the rhetoric.  

On the other hand, I’ll reiterate that while my hyperbolic tone was poor and regrettable, I continue to believe that the Bitcoin Foundation in its current incarnation is significantly damaged, and that Peter Vessenes and Jon Matonis should resign.  But it may be better to let the Foundation die a slow, quiet death than to organize a public execution.  

I consider myself a Bitcoin entrepreneur first and foremost, and I think that a public spectacle would just provide ammunition for Bitcoin’s formidable external foes.  Better to let the community purge itself.

There are many reasons I took the course of action that I did, but as my unorthodox strategy ultimately proved unproductive, I’ll bow out of the conversation with respect to the Bitcoin Foundation without explanations or defensiveness.  

I’m sure I’ll be eating humble pie and ramen while I try to rebuild some of my damaged relationships.  

I tried something risky.  It blew up in my face.  That’s ok; I’ll take my medicine.

Looking forward to getting back to my regular boring Daily Bits tomorrow.

Cheers,
TBI

________________________________

Why do you seek out and uncover the wrongs if you don't plan on reporting it?  ... oh yeah so you could profit from the info.
This is the same guy that admitted to insider trading in the same breath he used to accused others of their wrong doings.    

Now he's backing out of a contract he made with himself. hahahaha Keep this up you'll earn that seat on the Btc board. hahahahahaha

While my accusations on Friday were 100% truthful, I now see that I have overplayed my hand.  Rather than go all-in with a losing hand, I’m mucking my cards.  I never anticipated this degree of backlash from within the community.  As such, any further efforts to publicly push for resignations are not well-focused, and I plan to turn down the rhetoric.  

LOL  lol?  LOL  hmmmmm...

He's not even worth 1 bit.

Every time this guy writes a blog post he goes down in my estimation. Which is a pity cos (a) he writes them often, and (b) he gets fed some interesting information which should be in the public domain. If only he learnt to present it more objectively, it could be a really useful resource and he could actually become the Woodward and Bernstien he so longingly wishes to be thought of as.

For all our sakes Ryan, do some reading on editorial impartiality. Reach out and partner with an experienced journalist. Lots would willingly help to share your sources. Separate your revelation of facts from your opinion pieces. It will do your credibility a world of good. 

And if you want to threaten someone with "resign or I publish", you do it privately. - You can't polish a turd Ryan. No offence, but that rookie error has made you look like a right toothless Muppet, much to the satisfaction of your numerous detractors. Pity.

I think many felt like me when he first "broke the news" about having something friday. I felt this was nothing but an attempt to blackmail. I also felt the way he was presenting it, up to going to the big named yuck networks was going to do nothing but harm the image of bitcoin more.

I was along the lines that if the info was that damning he had to just release it. Release it to the community and let the chips fall as they would. Whoring himself to the media was a bad option, and if he cared about BTC he would not do this.

So not only is he an attention whore, but he's not even got the balls to follow through. 

Pathetic, he should really never bother to blog again after this. 

That is certainly one way to set your credibility on fire.   ???  I'm bummed too because I was waiting for the fireworks today.  ;D  So either it was completely made up by TBI, which means he's a liar or it's true and the corruption just continues, which means TBI has no integrity.  Either way, this is one of the biggest fails I've ever seen.

OP please press the edit button of the first post and change the title to '.. backs away from.."

 Agreed "Backs Up" could easily be misinterpreted.

Lol, done, thx. Bloody prepositions ;)

Maybe I do not appreciate human ego, but it is difficult for me to imagine that TBI could really expect that the directors from TBF he singled out would just resign from TBF upon publication of his blog post.

And the problem with confronting them privately is that probably he does not know them and they would likely ignore his threatening emails.

anyway, it looks said and not a way to go. He could make his portfolio known to respected members of the community and ask them to take action.

If there are any damaging documents at all ...

I know it can be hard to listen to someone who starts his posts by calling the reader an idiot, but we should look at the content of his criticisms. I like to try remaining open to opinions different than mine so I have read his post at BF.
Some of his issues are misunderstanding the goals of the foundation. That is understandable since the foundation could involve itself in all sorts of things. For example, the BF did not warn people about trading at Gox (or any exchange). They are not a consumer protection group.
Other claims were more vague and hinted at some type of corruption. However there was never a specific assertion or accusation. For example, "Some Foundation board members may have had direct access to Mark Karpeles which allowed them to personally deposit and withdraw funds..." Well, "may have" renders this claim pointless because it implies that this is no more than a hunch.
I would address any concerns TBI has and try to explain my understanding of the BF's positions if he's interested. Maybe working together we could come up with better ideas about how to operate?  

TBI's BF post:
https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/803-open-letter-to-peter-vessenes-and-jon-matonis-to-resign-their-board-seats/

While my accusations on Friday were 100% truthful,

However, the likely damage in public perception to this class of technology could put it back 5~10 years,

At the risk of appearing hyperbolic, this could be the end of Bitcoin, at least for most of the public.

BTCt2stupid

Apparently this guy is doing an interview with the real Satoshi tomorrow as well, how do so many idiots get into prominent positions in the bitcoin community?

They paid him off. It's good to see corruption is alive and well.

What do you believe must be done?

Everyone is so prejudiced against him, everyone is ready to pounce on each other now days for about anything.

When people forget the meaning of blind love, they slowly corrupt themselves.

He has more information on the laws governing the universe than he is ready to even think about.

He says if the world can seduce him back to rise, he won't be able to resist love.

When you're ready to care for him as if he were your son, then maybe you would understand if our earth going boom or bust!!

BTCLOL

a 256 bit idiot

That's why if he really had something he should have just published instead of trying to make a spectacle out of it.

Unless blackmail was his goal all along. He gave them enough time to contact him and find out what would be released. He may not have had much info or maybe just enough to scare them. If they refuse to pay up the story is released and he looks like a hero. If they pay up then he laughs all the way to the bank.

It's kind of like the way Mircea Popescu's predictions work on Trilema. Make a prediction that BitInstant (or Gox, or BitPay, or BTCe) will fail within 4 years because they don't know how to run a business. Wait until one of them fails then dig up that particular blog post and reprint it everywhere. Chances are you will be right about one of them because +50% of new startups fail within 4 years. http://www.statisticbrain.com/startup-failure-by-industry/

There's no need to give this guy so much attention. The guy didnt even know how to set up a wallet so why pay attention to any information he's fed. Clearly he's not a big player and is basically someones pawn and mouthpiece.

If this is true it's staggering. MtGox were running on borrowed time since 2011 and TBF endorsed it.

Of course this is all a bit of speculation but I've seen a number of other people theorize that MtGox problems started with their original hack.

TwoBit has proven to be an attention whore at best or an infiltrator at worst... his rise to "prominence" in our community and his subsequent rants seem to be straight out of the NSA playbook as transmitted by Glen Greenwald (https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/).

We should not underestimate the powers that be, or overestimate the intellectual capacity of your average crypto currency enthusiast... emotions are a powerful weapon in the hands of an experienced opponent  :-\

I don't see how it's sensible to replace his unsubstantiated conspiracy theory with another. Why does it have to be a grand secret plan? Cops learn that 99.999% of the time the motive is greed, love or the approval of others. 

Two Bit Who??

This is a huge move for the Bitcoin Foundation.

http://www.coindesk.com/dc-veterans-jim-harper-amy-wiess-join-bitcoin-foundation/

The Foundation has already established itself as the goto source for all things bitcoin in Washington DC.  This will further solidify that standing.

With the addition of a PR rep look for foundation member making high profile media appearances and hopefully some more positive press.

http://imgur.com/xNkGC3H

Perhaps the real intent was to get rid of Jon Matonis in favor of someone more friendly to the DC-Manhattan mafia.

Can you explain why *you* think impressing Washington D.C. is at the forefront of the foremost foundation in bitcoin?

Do not misconstrue my line of questioning: I appreciate the fact that transparency, compliance, and public perception are easily overlooked necessities in our movement. Especially to a bunch of cryptoanarchic punks who are solely self-sufficient, trustless, open-source etc, btc, etc. I am not one of the latter, I do find it concerning however that this is what a person of your stature in the community chooses to enunciate of all things.

I agree that getting these two new players in TBF is bold moves for bold guys/gal. I'm uncertain whether or not any direction the bitcoin foundation has captained is truly in the greater good's interest..

1BTCitsmartgui

What?
Is this really happening, any updates?

If you are asking "me" I can only say the the major bitcoin conversation was being driven by Law Enforcement.  After the Gawker article in June 1st of 2011, http://gawker.com/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imag-30818160  bitcoin came on the public radar soley for it's ilicit use.  There was no mention of is's previous 3 years of development not the 10 years of cryptographic advancements and the emerging computer science field of distributed consensus that made the bitcoin protocol possible.

Then on June 5th of 2011 US Senator and Senate Banking Committee Member Chuck Schumer jumps on television and demands the shutdown of silkroad which uses the "anonymous" cryptocurrency bitcoin.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Schumer-Calls-on-Feds-to-Shut-Down-Online-Drug-Marketplace-123187958.html


Then in April of 2012 the FBI report was leaked.  http://cryptome.org/2012/05/fbi-bitcoin.pdf This probably took about 6 months to assemble so the investigation started that Fall.

It wasn't until September of 2012  that the Bitcoin Foundation was created.

Meanwhile the crypto anarachists and libertarians continued to buy drugs on silk road and allow money laundering through its unregulated use of cryptocurrency.  

Who do you think was going to win that argument?

So if it not for the efforts of the Foundation in Washington, we could have had a very different outcome at the November 2013 Senate Hearing and I guarantee you Ben Lawasky would not be calling for a Bitcoin license if interested parties were not interacting with these regulators and legislators to aid them in understanding the amazing potential benefits of the technology.

This paper was circulated to policymakers, legislator and regualtors in washington.
http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/Brito_BitcoinPrimer_embargoed.pdf

This is a Great article about how effective the Foundation was in Washington, helping guide the bitcoin debate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/11/21/heres-how-bitcoin-charmed-washington/


Just me 2c.

I appreciate that in depth response. I don't necessarily agree with all of it. BTCut it is appreciated.

That doesn't exactly read like a libertarian success story: "But Murck also stressed that the Bitcoin community was willing to work with federal regulators to ensure that Bitcoin-based businesses complied with applicable laws. "I want to craft a sane regulatory environment," he said, urging federal regulators to "engage stakeholders. Don't have secret meetings. Have public meetings. We're all happy to live with the consequences of whatever rulemaking is open and transparent." Who is this "Bitcoin Community" he's talking about? Does he have a mouse in his pocket?

I'm not happy to "live with the consequences of whatever rulemaking is open and transparent". They are working with regulators to make Bitcoin just another watered down PayPal or Amazon Payments, fully regulated and controlled by Washington. Oh sorry, it wouldn't be exactly like PayPal or Amazon Payments, they're faster than Bitcoin, easier to understand and will work with your existing bank account. My old bank closed my account because they saw "Bitcoin activity". The last time I funded a Bitcoin exchange account or withdrew to fiat it made the second coming of Christ look speedy. TBF is going to make everything valuable about Bitcoin disappear.

Whether the information TBI had is incriminating enough or not, he should stick to his word and release it. By chickening out, whatever accusations he makes in the future will not have any credibility.

Future credibility? Let's see he released a "leaked" Gox document that turned out to be fake. Then he accused the foundation of corruption and failed to produce any evidence. Then he claimed to have a meeting with Satoshi and that never happened... What past credibility did he have?

The document itself is likely to be fake, the information is not. There is strong evidence it was created with inside information coming from the Bitcoin foundation. Mark said himselsf the document was "so so" about its truth, Foundation already knew of everything( and did not warn anyone btw ). So just the origin is fake.

What Mark said was that the info was basically a close guess. Of course it was fake, it looked like a 3rd. grader made it. You say "the foundation knew everything". Could you be more specific? Who do you mean and what did they know? I would be interested to know what you know that the rest of us do not.

Yes, the foundation released their statements on time with Mt. Gox going off line, so for a matter of fact they already knew. Also there is a months old video i already posted here, i have to search, where  Andreas Antonopoulos(foundation member) gives clear hints that the Mt. Gox is factually insolvent.