thank you, good stuff

It wont be technical beyond the point of explaining what the tech is to people who don't understand -- mainly about the stories and people

Bump....hoping there's a volunteer or two out there. 

Hi all,

It's been a thrill to have a front row seat in this amazing space for the last several years.

I'm working on a book to both explain the tech and also tell the stories and the people behind this.

There is a lot more room for some good books on the topic and I think that some of the new wave of blockchain books are very weak without much substance.

For style, it's going to be something like Liars Poker or The Big Short crossed with The Road Ahead or What Will Be (Dertuzos) :  character driven but also primarily a work to explain what the tech really is, how it works and what this means now and for the future.

This can be something good for the industry.  Your help would be appreciated.

1) Do you have any great photos of Bitcoin history?  Early meetings, speeches etc?

2) Are you an early adopter, dev or CEO or some other person with an interesting insight to the tech or some stories that should be told?

3)  If the Bitcoin and blockchain industry was a book or movie, who would be the main characters?

4). What do you think are the key defining moments for this tech?   Was there an "ah ha" moment or a moment when you thought this has made it or would make it?

5). What are the amazing/ interesting/ funny stories that need to be told?

6). I'm interviewing people in the industry:  who should I be sure not to miss and what should I ask them?

7)  There are so many interesting things that should be covered.  Do you have any thoughts on good and clear ways to break this down?  Do you think sections by topic or people or events or by timeline might be more effective?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks very much!

Thank you

Nah....you?   

Thank you!

I came aboard to do a turnaround and think we did as well as possible.  The Bitcoin Foundation is in the best position it's been in a long time and this new leadership will be a big positive.

What does the Bitcoin Foundation do and why does it exist?
Today is a great example - as we speak today in Toronto we are running another DevCore event this one organized by board member Michael Perklin - hundreds of people are attending to hear from speakers like Petwr Todd, Andreas Antonopolous and others to learn technically advanced topics related to blockchain.


PRESS RELEASE: 
Bitcoin Foundation Appoints Llew Claasen as Executive Director
 
(Monday, June 20. - Toronto.).  Today, at the Blockchain Training Conference / DEVCORE Toronto, the Bitcoin Foundation announced the appointment of Llew Claasen as Executive Director, effective July 1.
 
Llew brings many years of international tech experience and project management skills.  He was elected by a board of directors vote on June 14.

Claasen said, "I'm looking forward to leading the Bitcoin Foundation going forward.  There is an amazing opportunity for the organization to help the Bitcoin ecosystem.  In the coming weeks I'll be working closely with the board, membership, transition team and various stakeholders to create the best plan for success possible."
 
Llew Claasen is a venture capitalist based in Cape Town, South Africa and Managing Partner of Newtown Partners.  He is a technology startup go-to-market strategist with deep expertise in designing, building, merchandising and marketing Online & Mobile software products and services (B2B, B2C, B2B2C).

Outgoing Executive Director Bruce Fenton stated, "I'm thrilled that Llew was appointed to this role, we think his skill set is exactly what is needed now."  Last month Fenton had informed the board of a desire to close out his term, he will remain as a board member.  "The foundation is in a great position and in great hands. I look forward to supporting Llew however I can in this exciting new chapter."
 
Board Member Vinny Lingham said "I've known Llew for many years and have worked with him in several capacities.  I think he will be a perfect fit for the organization as we build on the significant progress we have made."  Due to his long business relationship and friendship with Claasen, Lingham recused himself from the board vote. The remainder of the board was present and voted unanimously to approve his appointment.  The board also thanked Fenton for his work in adding transparency, financial controls and initiatives like DevCore.
 
Board Chair Brock Pierce echoed Lingham's statements and said "Llew's project management skills, geographic location and emerging markets experience are all huge advantages and we are all very happy that he has accepted this position.  The Bitcoin Foundation is in the best position it has been since I joined and we are just getting started."

Claasen will begin his work on the transition immediately with an official term start date of July 1.   He has said that he looks forward to speaking with individual members, corporations, developers and the community as he begins the role.
 
The Bitcoin Foundation is a 501c6 organization and the oldest and largest industry group focused on Bitcoin and has a variety of corporate members, individuals and international chapters.  The primary focus areas of the Bitcoin Foundation are on increasing adoption, fostering more Bitcoin development such as through the DevCore event series and encouraging global decision makers to seek technical over regulatory solutions for Bitcoin related matters.   Board members include Brock Pierce, of Blockchain Capital (Board Chair), Bobby Lee, of BTCC (Board Vice Chair), Elizabeth McCauley of Coinsecure, Vinny Lingham of Civic, Michael Perklin of C4 and Francis Pouliot of Satoshi Portal.

This event has absolutely nothing whatsoever in any way to do with freemasonry.  I've never discussed it with Freemasons, it is not a topic of the event, no Freemasons are attending that I know of -- there is simply no tie in any way at all.

As for the overall bigger picture comments about freemasonry, yes, they are off topic and yes you are incorrect and yes you are a conspiracy theory.

Freemasons have not been responsible for genocide etc. your claims are too far fetched to debate and I'm not on a Bitcoin char board to debate the merits of an organization I'm a member of any more than I would come here and defend my religion, sexual orientation or anything else.

If someone has a specific actual accusation against me I'd address it.

This is a thread about the Satoshi Roundtable event--  isn't a thread about freemasonry in any remote way shape or form by any stretch of the imagination so I'm not going to spend any more time here on it.   If you want to DM me or go speak with a Freemason directly you are welcome to.

Oh, I get it now -- you are a freemasonry conspiracy theorist.

Thanks for clarifying.  

Although at the beginning of your post you were going on about how the Roundtable was bad and corporations and developers etc are bad.

Yes, like 2 million or so other people, I'm a Freemason.   I'm not very active at all, have probably attended 1-2 meetings in the last three years -- all at my local lodge which is in a tiny town in the country.  We get about 15-20 people, all local who attend.  My family and I have pancake breakfast there about once a month at a fundraiser they do.

I've never, ever combined freemasonry in Bitcoin in any way so -- aside from your no doubt incorrect theories on freemasonry they are doubly irrelevant in this context, talking about an event that has nothing to do with in in an industry that has nothing to do with it.

It's like bringing up someone's sexual orientation, religion or something

Odd

What on earth are you talking about?

How is Satoshi Roundtable a "control freak" or gangster organization?  It's a group of very different people who don't even agree with each other, many have never met...there is nothing to control.

I presided over absolutely no "extravagant expenses" at the Bitcoin Foundation so this is a complete falsehood.  When I became a volunteer the organization had very little money and expenses are now less than 10% of peak spending I have taken zero funds from the foundation and my biggest expense reimbursements have been under a couple thousand dollars for DevCore travel, web hosting and a few other things I've covered.  I actually donated not only time but also $10,000 from my own pocket.

For Roundtable - What would make you think I'm trying to strong arm any devs?  I have no bias in the capacity issue.  This event, btw was planned long before Classic was announced and long before this most recent rift.

Who exactly is "corrupt"?   What "corrupt friends" you are throwing out ridiculous insults without any backing so one can only guess what you are talking about.   I presume you consider every attendee to be my "friend" and one or more of them is "corrupt"?   Well they are not all my friends, many I haven't even met and many more are loose acquaintances.  I'm not sure who is corrupt in your opinion or what you base that on-  if I had information of someone being a bad actor they wouldn't be invited.  I actually screen these attendees far more than any other meeting I know of.

 I did my best to invite a good group to get together.  I'm sure I made mistakes and there are statistical odds that there are a few bad apples and I'm sorry for that --  but overall I'm happy with the group that was gathered.

You seem very negative.   I really don't even know what you are proposing.  No meetings of any kind?  No conferences?   Only top 10 devs are allowed to show up, no one else?

Didn't say people did want to talk to me.  Clearly they want to attend the event, because they are.

Gangsters?  So you consider several tops devs, almost all the top CEOs and leading voices on both sides of blocksize to be "gangsters, non-entities and nobodies"?   Um.  Okay.  Disagree with that and likely 99% of users and people doing things in this industry would as well.

If you don't think that miners, and developers, and CEOs who represent the majority of users and early adopters and holders have no influence then I disagree and we are probably so far away from each other in thinking that it's not worth talking.

So (dare I ask ) who's this Blake person?

Also, I asked about the foundation funds -- it doesn't appear that specific coins were tracked after received in a segregated way...they were all bundled together in one accounting balance called Bitcoin.  The KNC donation came in and was added to the other Coins and eventually sold on Coinbase. Hope that helps.  B

So you are saying no humans have any influence or matter?  That's not what the white paper says.
Or is it just these specific people?  If so, can you suggest a better list or who is missing?

As for writing code, that's great and the contributions are huge and important of course.  In addition to code and a technical issue we have a human one and it makes sense to bring people together to discuss.  Would you prefer there is no meeting?

Risto is a cool guy, I wish he was returning this year

Funny, surprised no one before this had ever added comic balloons.

Who is Crypto King?

Not in any way is this a Bitcoin Foundation event or any remote attempt at any governance of any kind.

Thanks Franky for the summary suggestion!

Just to be clear there are two different roundtables.....the one earlier this week and the one coming up this weekend.
They have different organizers.
The one a few days ago wrote the letter.
The one coming up hasn't written anything yet.

Yes, they were invited, said they would have liked to attend but have a commitment and thanked us for the invite and asked to be invited next time

They were both invited and unfortunately did not even reply.

I hear through the grapevine that they want to avoid "politics" - no idea if this is the case, I don't know either of them...but, if so, there is nothing noble about avoiding politics when an important key discussion is going on.

Leaders in this space should not abdicate - everyone should either be working on bringing people together and increasing understand or should be working on explaining their position to others.