Roger Ver Endorses Trace Mayer For Bitcoin Foundation Board Seat

[sunnankar]

On September 16-23rd the Bitcoin Foundation will be holding the final elections for two seats on the board of directors for the Industry and Individual seats.

In this video, Bitcoin expert and enthusiast Roger Ver who is a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation and major financial contributor endorses Trace Mayer for the Individual seat and they discuss the vision and future of the Foundation and how the financial capital should be allocated.

Reddit link - upvotes appreciated 

Article link

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[Elwar]

Interesting...you should post this on the Bitcoin Foundation board so that the members of that foundation know about it.

[gmaxwell]

As a Bitcoin-QT core developer, foundation member, and Bitcoin enthusiast I am strongly opposed to Trace Mayer on the foundation seat.

In the past he has treated me in a manner which I found to be disrespectful and hostile, which is saying a lot considering that I can handle reading the mining subforum here.

Contact from him which was, in my opinion, threatening made me seriously consider discontinuing my involvement with Bitcoin.

In light of this, I do not believe that his approach or interpersonal skills are suited for the role.

[capa]

hmm Roger Ver didnt seem hugely enthusiastic to me.

I guess he lost a bet to Trace..

[sunnankar]

As a Bitcoin-QT core developer, foundation member, and Bitcoin enthusiast I am strongly opposed to Trace Mayer on the foundation seat.

In the past he has treated me with incredible disrespect and hostility.

His interactions made me fear for my safety and made me seriously consider discontinuing my involvement with Bitcoin.

In light of this, I do not believe that his approach or interpersonal skills are suited for the role.

I am not sure why you are asserting disrespect or hostility in the debate since all of my communications were drafted the same way I would draft pleadings for a judge; professionally and pointedly contentious on the issues. And your implication of physical threat from me is completely baseless and extremely unprofessional.

Additionally, because you and Jeff Garzik did not articulate soundly reasoned arguments I drafted, objectively, both sides of the arguments before you both retreated into your cave due to the mounting pressure from the vast majority of the Bitcoin community. Sure, the arguments were pointed and sharp on the issues but in no way were they aimed in a personal manner at either you or LukeJR.

For those unaware of the backstory when developing the Bitcoin.org Press Page with Saivann and Mike Hearn it was LukeJR, another candidate for this Foundation board seat, that led the charge on voting to exclude Jon Matonis, currently executive director of the Foundation and Founding Member and Roger Ver, a Founding Member of the Foundation and significant financial contributor, and it was Trace Mayer and Joerg Platzer, another candidate for this Foundation board seat, who argued for inclusion of both. Here are a few of the Github threads (139, 152, 162) and one of the Bitcointalk discussions (24 pages! - very hot topic and healthy debate in the community which seemed to settle on inclusion).

Some Bitcoin community members were so incensed at the behavior of LukeJR and Gregory Maxwell to exclude competent, professional and articulate speakers that they took significant action. For example, Andreas Antonopoulos created the Bitcoin Press Center.

[sunnankar]

hmm Roger Ver didnt seem hugely enthusiastic to me.

I guess he lost a bet to Trace..

There was no bet or any other type of financial incentive involved in anyway with this endorsement. He was extremely gracious and probably tired since it was around 2am in Tokyo at the time of the call.

[gmaxwell]

You may note that I revised my message to make abundantly clear that I am stating my personal opinion, for whatever worth people want to take it for.

I do not want to endure more legal threats from you. If you insist on making them, however, I am not afraid.

But after my interactions I with you I do not believe the Bitcoin community would be well served by your services in this role.

As an aside, I do not understand why you persist in referring to yourself in the third person. I am also mildly confused at your commentary regarding pleadings for a judge. Is this a reference to your prior legal threats? I did not believe you were licensed to practice law.

[genjix]

Hi Trace,

1. Should copyright exist?

2. How better can we allocate money/resources in the Bitcoin space?

3. Why do you support a central foundation?

4. Is Bitcoin guaranteed to happen (like internet or printing press)?

5. What do you think of Cody Wilson?

Thanks.

[greyhawk]

Hahahahaha, is this the dude?



He looks exactly like the guy in zombie movies who first is a douchebag to everyone he meets and then gets eaten and the whole audience goes: "YEAH! WOOT Fuck that asshole! GO ZOMBIES, YEAH!!!"

And then he comes back and the protagonist neatly chops off the dude's head with a shovel (or sometimes un-neatly with a chainsaw) prompting another round of applause from the audience.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Go Zombies!

[greyhawk]

As an aside, I do not understand why you persist in referring to yourself in the third person.

That's what crazypersons do. It's how you can identify them. Remember the finnish supernode? Same problem.

[sunnankar]

I do not want to endure more legal threats from you.

I am not sure why you are fabricating such aspersions. Your potential defamation of someone else, which I pointed out, would not give me a cause of action to drag you into court and most likely nor would I since it would be against my principles in that particular set of facts you are referring to.

But to move away from water under the bridge and focus on something more pressing you do point out a very important issue: Whether our Bitcoin developers are adequately protected legally?

With subpoenas, cease and desists, etc. already having been sent out I think this is an area of preemptive protection that needs more work done. In fact, one of my friends who only develops software pulled out the subpoena he received and I glanced over it.

Before either the subpoenas or C&Ds went out I raised the issue of a Bitcoin legal defense fund with Patrick Murck at the June Conference. Patrick recommended Brian Klein as chairman of a committee so I traveled to Santa Monica to meet with him, brainstorm what could be done and then we setup the Bitcoin Legal Defense Committee.

And it is precisely contributors and developers like yourself, those who are contributing code pro-bono, that I would like to see primarily and directly protected by whatever legal shield we can fashion.

As an aside, I do not understand why you persist in referring to yourself in the third person. I am also mildly confused at your commentary regarding pleadings for a judge.

Mainly to make it easier for those not following the conversation to get a grasp on the facts.

I think our training results in approaching issues differently. I am referring to the style of presentation: professional, issue and fact focused, either presenting objectively or arguing persuasively depending on the circumstance. I have never slug barbs at your personally in an ad hominem attack but instead focused only on the ideas and arguments you have presented.

On another note, in many areas like the assertions you make regarding CoinJoin I find myself agreeing with your positions and consequently have to modify my own positions as a result.

[sunnankar]

1. Should copyright exist?

2. How better can we allocate money/resources in the Bitcoin space?

3. Why do you support a central foundation?

4. Is Bitcoin guaranteed to happen (like internet or printing press)?

5. What do you think of Cody Wilson?

1. No because I do not find any of the arguments I have read regarding the use of violence against someone merely for speech to be compelling and therefore it would violate the Non-Aggression Axiom but I remain minded to superior arguments. Additionally, copyright was invented as a tool for the State to suppress the free flow of ideas, is still being used as a tool to suppress ideas like with the raid on Kim Dotcom and is all done under color of law that is built on a very weak intellectual foundation for moral justification.

Consequently, I am against the use of violence to impede or prevent the spread of the Bitcoin protocol because it is speech.

2. I think developing the core protocol to be incredibly robust and tangential code and services around it which greatly increase the level of protection individuals can secure for the lowest cost possible.

3. I suppose the only thing more difficult than herding cats is herding honey badgers. Bitcoin is an incredibly complex and technical subject. Jon Matonis and I have been a long-time thought leaders in the space and worked very hard to spread the knowledge about Bitcoin. Consequently, I know how difficult of a job that is to do. As Bitcoin grows and the needs of the economy and community mature I think it will be increasingly important to have some vehicle or mechanism to distribute asymmetrical information so we can build what our customers want. And the Foundation is merely one of many vehicles which can help keep those lines of communication open. After all, with open source projects we can work in much more complex ways.

And I think it is important, and have incurred significant expenses personally and allocated time towards, to interact with law enforcement, regulators and governmental agents to educate them objectively on the protocol and persuasively on the features, advantages and benefits of this innovative technology to individuals. However, we should be frugal in the use of the Foundation's funds and consequently if they want to be educated or receive consulting about Bitcoin then we should expect them to pay for it with a check or perhaps even some Bitcoins.

4. Bitcoin is happening but I agree with Mr. Maxwell that there are still some technical weaknesses that could be exploited and thus the reason I think the underlying protocol's robustness should continue to be developed. But human action finds a way and if not Bitcoin then it will likely be some other tool that serves this particular market need and I do not think cryptocurrency as an idea is going away without absolute and complete totalitarian tactics by all of the States, which is pretty far outside of the current political reality, and even then it may likely survive. Ideas can only be overcome by other ideas and Bitcoin is an extremely superior idea to the others out there that greatly lowers the costs in terms of time, money and privacy when it comes to transferring value over distance so the economics will present a tailwind for its adoption.

5. He is another Cipherspace Innovator the likes of which Steve Jobs referred to and is pushing the limits of what we thought was possible with merely freedom of speech and ideas. Additionally, as the Second Amendment was written the word 'arms' referred to armaments or weapons of war. So under a strict construction view of the Founder's intent there should be little if any restrictions so that the People can be on equal footing as the State.

And these are very substantive questions and perhaps you can pose them to the other candidates to get their positions and how they apply to their platforms. Thanks for stirring up the debate.

[genjix]

Thanks for your prescient answers. I support your viewpoints.

[Carlton Banks]

Very strange thread, why is Trace Mayer taking such a laboured approach to informing us that Roger Ver supports his candidacy? Can Trace Mayer answer? 

As an aside, I do not understand why you persist in referring to yourself in the third person. I am also mildly confused at your commentary regarding pleadings for a judge.

Mainly to make it easier for those not following the conversation to get a grasp on the facts.

Unlike the rest of your opaque and meandering prose?

Consequently, I am against the use of violence to impede or prevent the spread of the Bitcoin protocol because it is speech.

No it's not. I'm not even going to give such a preposterous proposition the credence of arguing against it, suffice to say; no it's not.

2. I think developing the core protocol to be incredibly robust and tangential code and services around it which greatly increase the level of protection individuals can secure for the lowest cost possible.

This sentence is too vague to be meaningful. I could go on with this critique, but it looks like a lot of work, you've gone into all-out politician mode.


I would be concerned if this kind of candidate can actually appeal to foundation members with this sort of rhetoric, he sounds like he prepared for this campaign with Aristotle "...on Tyranny", Machiavelli's "The Prince" and an ounce of cocaine.

[drama247365]

Trace Mayer strikes me as a sociopath.

[GoldSilverBitcoin]

Trace Mayer is personally responsible for bringing me, while I was writing for the Silver Vigilante and Dollar Vigilante, into the Bitcoin space.

He is the person who led to me buying the domain and starting GoldSilverBitcoin, and therefore was one of the reasons which ultimately led me to write Bitcoinomics: The Bitcoin Book. His effects have been palpable for bitcoiners, and who knows, maybe he is one of the numerous reasons you are here without you knowing it.  He has always been cordial to me and I believe Trace is capable of taking a major role in the Foundation's efforts or any Bitcoin endeavor

When it comes to Bitcoin's day-to-day, I have a feeling that Trace's positions differ quite a bit from my own.

Nonetheless, I support him in all he does.

And all of you should invest less in shit-talking.

[thezerg]

You may note that I revised my message to make abundantly clear that I am stating my personal opinion, for whatever worth people want to take it for.

I do not want to endure more legal threats from you. If you insist on making them, however, I am not afraid.

But after my interactions I with you I do not believe the Bitcoin community would be well served by your services in this role.

As an aside, I do not understand why you persist in referring to yourself in the third person. I am also mildly confused at your commentary regarding pleadings for a judge. Is this a reference to your prior legal threats? I did not believe you were licensed to practice law.

I would really prefer not to have to even read this kind of stuff.  But given that you brought up the issue it is not enough to speak in such broad terms. Nor do I want to wade through 24 pages and 3 github conversations of people bickering over what should have been a very positive development, guessing at what comments made you fear for your safety and feel legally threatened.

So I think you need to back up your assertions with some actual links.  Otherwise it just sounds like FUD.

[illpoet]

i for one am happy that this thread is on here.  It goes good with the popcorn i just made.

[GoldSilverBitcoin]

Trace Mayer is personally responsible for bringing me, while I was writing for the Silver Vigilante and Dollar Vigilante, into the Bitcoin space.

He is the person who led to me buying the domain and starting GoldSilverBitcoin, and therefore was one of the reasons which ultimately led me to write Bitcoinomics: The Bitcoin Book. His effects have been palpable for bitcoiners, and who knows, maybe he is one of the numerous reasons you are here without you knowing it.  He has always been cordial to me and I believe Trace is capable of taking a major role in the Foundation's efforts or any Bitcoin endeavor

When it comes to Bitcoin's day-to-day, I have a feeling that Trace's positions differ quite a bit from my own.

Nonetheless, I support him in all he does.

And all of you should invest less in shit-talking.

From your web page:  "Anarcho-Capitalist.  Libertarian.  Freedom fighter against mankind’s two biggest enemies, the State and the Central Banks."

While some of things you say are true most people don't go around saying "mankind's biggest enemy is ... "  These things will drive away casual users because it makes Bitcoin appear to be some kind of wacko fringe element system that they don't want to be associated with.  Just like most people are not looking to "vanish."

That is not my web-page. That is Jeff Berwick's web page. Interesting dude. Had great (and reserved) appearances on mainstream media for BitcoinATM. When Trace brought BTC to my attention, I wrote as Silver Vigilante and wrote for Dollar Vigilante. It was a casual conversation I had with him at FreedomFest that made me realize the oh-so obvious. I am not an anarcho-capitalist.  I think a communist might serve just as well as a libertarian for the foundation. It's really a question of base intentions more-so than overt political slants.

[smoothie]

As a Bitcoin-QT core developer, foundation member, and Bitcoin enthusiast I am strongly opposed to Trace Mayer on the foundation seat.

In the past he has treated me in a manner which I found to be disrespectful and hostile, which is saying a lot considering that I can handle reading the mining subforum here.

Contact from him which was, in my opinion, threatening made me seriously consider discontinuing my involvement with Bitcoin.

In light of this, I do not believe that his approach or interpersonal skills are suited for the role.

Links/quotes supporting your claim?