2013-07-08 Announcing Jon Matonis as Executive Director of Bitcoin Foundation

[gweedo]

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=214

I want to share some good news; we’re expanding.
As of today, Jon Matonis has accepted my offer to join us as Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation. He starts immediately, although he’ll take a few months to ramp up to full time.
This is a coup for the Foundation. I believe Jon’s work experience and passion for Bitcoin will combine into something awesome here. I’m excited!

I thought they were suppose to vote on those positions. I guess they forgot that part.

[cbeast]

Excellent news. Jon is articulate, savvy, even tempered, and as nuts about Bitcoin as anyone can be.

[Bitcopia]

Voting to decide whether or not John Matonis should be the executive director of the bitcoin foundation would be a formality. That guy has done more to spread intelligible information about bitcoin than anyone else I can think of. But still, if the directive does indeed call for a vote, then the formality is important.

[cbeast]

gweedo, I am just curious who you would rather see as the "face of bitcoin"

[Wekkel]

Matonis has shown vision. He is excellent for the job.

[sunnankar]

Matonis has shown vision. He is excellent for the job.

And Satoshi himself sent Matonis an email inviting him to investigate Bitcoin which Matonis did and then began writing about it bringing tremendous amounts of attention and resulting in a significant amount of additional people joining the project.

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

Matonis has shown vision. He is excellent for the job.

The price rise of the past 12hs & end of the ongoing decline might be related to this switcheroo.  It gives me (and probably a lot of early adopters) a bit more confidence that the Foundation will be closer to the original Satoshi vision going forward, not as US-centric or regulation-loving as the direction in which Vessenes was trying to go.

[cypherdoc]

this is a great choice.

[TraderTimm]

Anyone else but a radical. Ideal I would like to see a more of a business type take the helm. I really think the foundation was started way too young and is actually hurting the bitcoin theory of decentralization. I think once we had more decentralization, then we have a foundation to be a 3rd party to all them.

History isn't made by the meek and cowardly. It is written by those willing to take risks - including calling the current system on its bullshit and double-dealing. There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Bitcoin. Currency bandits better clear out of town.

[Arto]

It gives me (and probably a lot of early adopters) a bit more confidence that the Foundation will be closer to the original Satoshi vision going forward, not as US-centric or regulation-loving as the direction in which Vessenes was trying to go.

Indeed. This is the best news in a long while, and bestows on the Bitcoin Foundation a good dose of much-needed legitimacy. Given the Foundation's direction during Vessenes's tenure, many folks had been becoming increasingly worried that the necessity of a fork (political or technical) was just a matter of time. Matonis taking over at the Foundation is a game-changer and should go a long way towards restoring optimism. A "coup" indeed

[btceic]

Anyone else but a radical. Ideal I would like to see a more of a business type take the helm. I really think the foundation was started way too young and is actually hurting the bitcoin theory of decentralization. I think once we had more decentralization, then we have a foundation to be a 3rd party to all them.

History isn't made by the meek and cowardly. It is written by those willing to take risks - including calling the current system on its bullshit and double-dealing. There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Bitcoin. Currency bandits better clear out of town.

Reminds me of this:

Here's To The Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the
square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have
no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the
human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world - are the ones who do!

Congrats to Jon

[marcus_of_augustus]

Good news. Go get 'em Jon


(NB: debating anything with gweedo is exercise in futility, the fact that he has problems with Jon matonis should tell you everything you need to know about him.)

[shawshankinmate37927]

Congratulations Jon!  This news and the BF's recent response to California's C&D letter are very encouraging!

...I think he likes bitcoins but kinda hurts our image, remember he is a radical. We really don't need those people in our corners, let alone be the face of bitcoin.

Actually, what we don't need are weak, timid souls that want to appease incompetent government bureaucrats and monopolistic bankers who are primarily interested in preserving the status quo.  Jon Matonis is a great choice and exactly the kind of person we need to have in our corner.

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

It gives me (and probably a lot of early adopters) a bit more confidence that the Foundation will be closer to the original Satoshi vision going forward, not as US-centric or regulation-loving as the direction in which Vessenes was trying to go.

Indeed. This is the best news in a long while, and bestows on the Bitcoin Foundation a good dose of much-needed legitimacy. Given the Foundation's direction during Vessenes's tenure, many folks had been becoming increasingly worried that the necessity of a fork (political or technical) was just a matter of time. Matonis taking over at the Foundation is a game-changer and should go a long way towards restoring optimism. A "coup" indeed

Exactly.  Hopefully this acts to heal some of the divisions and trust and controversy in a community which already has plenty of external attacks and FUD to deal with.  I will give credit to Peter Vessenes for making a move which is wise on many levels.

[DoomDumas]

Matonis has shown vision. He is excellent for the job.

+1

Each time I saw that Jon wrote something about bitcoin I was exited to read it.

Matonis wrote the best articles I've read about bitcoin.  He know what he talk about, bring exact facts, visionary and also reasonable..  Passionate, savyy, very well articulated !   He's the man

+1

[Itcher]

Anyone has a link to an article of him? I would enjoy to read.

[TheButterZone]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/

[phelix]

https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.jon.matonis

Always enjoyed your articles!

[StarfishPrime]

Excellent. I can't think of a better choice to take on the task of bitcoin advocacy.

Jon has done great work in raising bitcoin awareness and legitimacy within the mainstream business and investment communities and will no doubt continue to so at the helm of the Bitcoin Foundation.

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=222

Why I Accepted Executive Director Position for Bitcoin Foundation

Jon Matonis   
Jul 09 2013

I am proud to have been associated with the Bitcoin Foundation since its launch just nine short months ago. A nonprofit organization for Bitcoin can add greatly to the political and economic discourse for cryptographic money and monetary freedom. As Executive Director, I welcome the new challenge.

The Foundation has never claimed to represent all of Bitcoin nor all of its users because that would be impossible for any organization. Rather, the Foundation has consistently attempted to fill the gap where market-based incentives may not have produced the same outcome, such as in the areas of specialized grants and compensation transparency for volunteer developers as well as legal challenges to bitcoin usage and the sponsorship of aggressive legal defense.

For instance, we made our “cease and desist” correspondence with the State of California publicly available which can assist bitcoin exchanges and other bitcoin organizations in the future. Also, we intend to file amicus briefs in significant bitcoin-related legal cases and to offer pro bono legal defense where appropriate. In the next 30 days, we are scheduled to submit comments to FinCEN’s guidance and request for industry feedback on rulemaking. This will be made publicly available too.

The Foundation is not pro-regulation as some have claimed, but it is pro-education. I fully support across the board bitcoin education for legislative and regulatory entities. Proper education is not anti-market and I also agree with economist Peter Šurda who stated that lobbying on behalf of Bitcoin is not necessarily anti-market. However, constructing barriers to market entry and being complicit in certain crony capitalism regulatory outcomes is anti-market. I will steadfastly oppose a crony capitalism direction for the Bitcoin Foundation.

One of my primary near-term objectives for the Foundation is to become more inclusive of the various constituencies within the global bitcoin community. This will involve being more responsive to and communicative with member requests. It will also involve being more open to internationalization. Currently, 60% of the Foundation’s membership is non-US based and we need to do a better job behaving like a global organization. To this end, we will hold the next Bitcoin conference outside of the United States and we will sign on local Foundation chapters in several countries where interested parties have taken the lead on expanding the principles of Bitcoin in their region.

The bursting of Bitcoin technology on the scene at this time in history is not a mere coincidence. It is a reaction to three separate epochal developments largely emanating from the developed economies: (1) centralized and oppressive monetary authority (2) a dominant and complicit legacy banking system, and (3) the eradication of financial privacy.

Future generations will not be very forgiving if the Foundation fails in its mission to standardize and protect Bitcoin worldwide. The youth of today, including the youth of the legislative and ruling classes, certainly grasp this movement and the demographics clearly bear that out. Choice in currency is the free speech of commerce.

Just as those against file sharing and BitTorrent technology were on the wrong side of history, so too are the institutional forces opposed to unfettered bitcoin growth. The great challenge and mandate for our time is in encouraging them to see it that way. Please join us.