What’s the role of an industry trade group and how much authority should companies place in the hands of these unofficial leaders?
That’s the question much of the bitcoin community is asking at the moment as the Bitcoin Foundation, the industry’s unofficial custodian and mouthpiece, faces allegations of self-dealing and embezzlement.
According to the Foundation’s own website, it exists to “standardize, protect, and promote the use of Bitcoin cryptographic money for the benefit of users worldwide.” Several hundred bitcoin companies are members of the Foundation and have donated heavily to fund its operations. The organization is led by a board of prominent crypto-currency entrepreneurs, investors, journalists, and academics, chiefly its Chairman, CoinLab founder Peter Vessenes who has been the subject of the most skepticism and scrutiny.
The spotlight was first shone on the Foundation’s leadership by controversial bitcoin blogger Ryan Selkis, aka the Two-Bit Idiot. On March 2nd, following the unraveling of Mt. Gox, Selkis wrote that Vessenes and Executive Director Jon Matonis would be stepping down prior to the conclusion of their current terms, “[seemingly recognizing] the need for the Foundation to clean house in order to revitalize its image in the coming months.” Days later, when forced to retract that prediction, Selkis began an aggressive, and occasionally manic campaign calling for their immediate ouster due to a failure of leadership.
At his most livid, Selkis called the current board “illegitimate” and demanded senior leaders across the bitcoin ecosystem stage a coup or kill the Foundation altogether – a position from which he later backed down, but not before writing:
Peter Vessenes and Jon Matonis are not scapegoats. They are not innocent bystanders. And they are not ethically entitled to remain in their board seats through later this year.
Selkis then promised to reveal “damning facts” if his demands were not met, including the those relating to: the Foundation ignoring warning signs of Mt. Gox’s failure as early as April 2013; Foundation directors exploiting their positions to withdraw funds from a failing Gox while the general public was losing their shirts; and conflicts of interest between director’s roles within the foundation and their personal bitcoin businesses. - READ MORE
Bitcoin is a form of digital currency created through a special process known as mining. The mining process involves difficult mathematical algorithms that make the currency scarce. Read more
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