Bitcoin Foundation Executive Director Bruce Fenton Outlines Plans for Improved Transparency at Inside Bitcoins NYC
Fenton’s push for transparency
A large chunk of Fenton’s presentation was dedicated to the Bitcoin Foundation’s need for more transparency. Two slides from Fenton’s presentation listed a number of different changes that the foundation will make to increase transparency over time. He noted that the plan is to make the Bitcoin Foundation “the most transparent non-profit organization in the world.” In addition to implementing the ten items for transparency from the Natinoal Council of Non-Profits, the Bitcoin Foundation also plans to include (or has already included) the following measures for additional transparency:
Hash financial data on the blockchain in a permanent record using Factom
Use Swarm for blockchain voting
Use Coinsider for open discussion
Member forums and interaction
Access to executive director Bruce Fenton
Published bylaws on GitHub
100% member elected board
Fenton also stated that anyone who has ideas for how to increase transparency to an even higher level should contact him as soon as possible.
Supporting bitcoin development without funding it
A final point of interest that everyone should take away from Fenton’s presentation is that the Bitcoin Foundation will continue to support bitcoin development; however, that support will not be financial in nature. I was able to ask Fenton to clarify that remark during the Q&A session of his talk, and he pointed out a few different ways in which the foundation can continue to support development without actually paying developers.
The DevCore conference (a bitcoin conference that is more technical and meant for developers) was the first point that Fenton made in his response. Fenton noted that the foundation can also work with bitcoin companies, such as Blockstream and BitPay, to get them to work more closely on finding ways to privately fund bitcoin development. On a related note, Fenton also pointed out that it would not be wise to centralize bitcoin development at the Bitcoin Foundation. He claimed that it would be better to have multiple organizations supporting development rather than keeping centralized under one house.
For now, the focus for Fenton and the rest of the Bitcoin Foundation is on transparency. It will be interesting to see how the community responds as many individuals have already decided to give up on this non-profit organization.
http://insidebitcoins.com/news/bitcoin-foundation-executive-director-bruce-fenton-outlines-plans-for-improved-transparency-at-inside-bitcoins-nyc/32117
