How can the Bitcoin Foundation best help Bitcoin? From New Exec Director

[cryptozulu]

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!

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[zircon]

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.

[BruceFenton]

Transparency is the number one most common request --

Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent

[ashour]

Transparency is the number one most common request --

Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent

Agree, more transparency and  more communication with the bitcoin community would help to build a confidence  between bitcoin community and the bitcoin foundation.

[Lethn]

Disband your organisation and stop taking other peoples' money.

[Pentax]

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.

[RodeoX]

Disband your organisation and stop taking other peoples' money.

Not sure what money they have "taken"? I GAVE them money.

[Armis]

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.



 

[ashour]

Transparency is the number one most common request --

Please let me know specifics about what things we can do to be more transparent

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.

[QuestionAuthority]

Can you comment on this:

Source: https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/1284-the-truth-about-the-bitcoin-foundation/

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.

[coinpr0n]

Secure enough funding for the developers and maybe work towards having a larger international reach and presence.

[ashour]

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.

[the joint]

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.

[ChuckBuck]

Besides the beaten to death consensus #1 gripe about the Bitcoin Foundation, Transparency, we need to get Bitcoin out there to the masses.

Promotion.



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.



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.



Partner with companies that make sense.  Partner Bitcoin Foundation with social media channels, like Linked In or Pinterest.

Charities.



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.

[Armis]

Besides the beaten to death consensus #1 gripe about the Bitcoin Foundation, Transparency, we need to get Bitcoin out there to the masses.

Promotion.



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.



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.



Partner with companies that make sense.  Partner Bitcoin Foundation with social media channels, like Linked In or Pinterest.

Charities.



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.

[BruceFenton]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

I'll be working on providing more information in the coming weeks.

[Beliathon]

Congratulations Bruce, glad to see a respectable name take the position.