A call for the Bitcoin Foundation to appoint a new board or dissolve

Mike@Coinswag

newbie

Activity: 32

Merit: 0

Quote from: BitTrade on March 07, 2014, 05:41:22 PM

And we should develop a decentralized voting mechanism on top of ethereum to elect the new board

I like the idea of making it more democratic.

Take a look at this thread, and add your point of view if you think it is an idea worth working toward: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.5487692

BitTrade

full member

Activity: 173

Merit: 100

And we should develop a decentralized voting mechanism on top of ethereum to elect the new board

Nathonas

sr. member

Activity: 280

Merit: 250

Knowledge is Power

Or how about...we just stop paying attention to them and let them die off on their own? The Bitcoin community never asked for a foundation, and we certainly don't need some kind of a "authority" for a decentralized currency. If someone wants to sue them for whatever damage they have done they should, but as a community I think the best thing to do is let them sink into obscurity.

LightRider

legendary

Activity: 1500

Merit: 1022

I advocate the Zeitgeist Movement & Venus Project.

http://two-bit-idiot.tumblr.com/post/78868284696/coup-or-death-for-the-bitcoin-foundation

Vitalik Buterin

sr. member

Activity: 330

Merit: 397

Quote from: kokojie on May 03, 2013, 11:17:15 AM

I agree with one thing, coinlab isn't getting 75M, they'll be lucky if mtgox agrees to settle for 1M if mtgox was in breach of contract, probably even less.

But if a contract was made between coinlab and mtgox, there will be break up fees for sure.

The point of initially citing figures like 75M is never to actually get 75M. It's actually quite a bit more devious than that.

Excerpting William Poundstone's Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value:

Quote

Psychologists Gretchen Chapman and Brian Bornstein tested this idea in a 1996 experiment, when Liebeck v. McDonald’s was much in the news. They presented eighty University of Illinois students with the hypothetical case of a young woman who said she contracted ovarian cancer from birth control pills and was suing her HMO. Four groups each heard a different demand for damages: $100; $20,000; $5 million; and $1 billion. The mock jurors were asked to give compensatory damages only. Anyone who wants to believe in the jury system must find the results astonishing.

Demand.................	Award (average)
$100	$990
$20,000	$36,000
$5 million	$440,000
$1 billion	$490,000

S. Reed Morgan, of the McDonald’s coffee lawsuit, has described attorneys such as himself as “entrepreneurs.” By seeking liability suit jackpots, professional litigators provide incentives for big companies to worry about the safety of their products. Less sympathetic observers dismiss this as “lottery litigation.” Either way, attorneys facing the legal wheel of fortune sometimes refrain from asking jurors for a specific amount. They fear that a reasonable figure might preempt a windfall, and a high-end figure could boomerang. Chapman and Bornstein’s experiment suggests otherwise. The title of their paper says it all: “The More You Ask For, the More You Get.”

abbyd

full member

Activity: 159

Merit: 100

Quote from: LightRider on May 03, 2013, 05:49:23 PM

The Bitcoin Foundation: Because if there's one thing Satoshi Nakamoto approved and endorsed, it was private forums protected by pay walls participated in by easily identifiable individuals supporting institutional bureaucracy and false authority to the detriment of all bitcoin stakeholders.

He would be so proud.

Ouch. The silence from the "Foundation" is deafening on this issue. All I can think of is Caesar (Karpeles) getting quietly stabbed in the back by everyone. Sure, maybe Gox sucks somewhat. But they're the only company making good money off Bitcoin, and they're also one of the few companies providing a useful service. So, let's throw a wrench into that, rather than just opening other exchanges? On top of that, let's throw in a bunch of proposals for "good regulations" to really stifle the markets. I can't think of a WORSE strategy for Bitcoin!

What I'd like to know:

* Who sold bitcoins in advance of the lawsuit announcement
* How long ago this lawsuit was planned
* What the endgame is
* What backroom deals have been made regarding regulation
* Who the undercover fed is in the foundation

Thanks for your consideration.

LightRider

legendary

Activity: 1500

Merit: 1022

I advocate the Zeitgeist Movement & Venus Project.

The Bitcoin Foundation: Because if there's one thing Satoshi Nakamoto approved and endorsed, it was private forums protected by pay walls participated in by easily identifiable individuals supporting institutional bureaucracy and false authority to the detriment of all bitcoin stakeholders.

He would be so proud.

Explodicle

hero member

Activity: 950

Merit: 1001

Quote from: cypherdoc on May 03, 2013, 11:04:17 AM

Unless you have a credible method for replacements I'm not sure what you accomplish.

Everyone who cares signs an approval ballot with the official client, and the vote is weighted by the number of coins the signer controls.
OR
Prediction market on BTC price conditional upon potential replacements: the replacement with the greatest predicted increase becomes the new board member.
OR
Let this play out first, and if there's still trouble someone will quit.

abbyd

full member

Activity: 159

Merit: 100

Quote from: Severian on May 03, 2013, 10:31:24 AM

In light of the lawsuit brought by Coinlab against Mtgox and as a lifetime member of the Bitcoin Foundation, I'm calling for a removal of the board (with the exception of Gavin Andresen) and a new board to be appointed. The Bitcoin Foundation has lost whatever credibility it had with this lawsuit, a lawsuit brought by the executive director against a fellow board member.

Bitcoin itself is a maturing technology. The same can't be said for all of its advocates.

Forget about the foundation - if Gavin leaves they won't have a pot to piss in... So far he seems to support the lawsuit, but what will he do when Coinlab loses?! He's a smart geek - my guess is that he can make plenty of money coding for a new BTC exchange... these Coinlab guys are clowns.

Elwar

legendary

Activity: 3598

Merit: 2386

Viva Ut Vivas

Is there not a method of choosing new leaders to the board within the foundation membership?

If that is not specified, then joining a foundation that has that capability would probably be a good move.

repentance

hero member

Activity: 868

Merit: 1000

Quote from: Severian on May 03, 2013, 10:31:24 AM

In light of the lawsuit brought by Coinlab against Mtgox and as a lifetime member of the Bitcoin Foundation, I'm calling for a removal of the board (with the exception of Gavin Andresen) and a new board to be appointed. The Bitcoin Foundation has lost whatever credibility it had with this lawsuit, a lawsuit brought by the executive director against a fellow board member.

Bitcoin itself is a maturing technology. The same can't be said for all of its advocates.

Check the history of Linux Foundation and how many lawsuits there've been involving people associated with it.

This really is pretty "normal" for an emerging sector and it's something we're going to see more often as Bitcoin grows.

It's probably also worth remembering that Peter Vessenes and Mark Karpeles are not the parties to this lawsuit. Neither the plaintiff nor the defendant are natural persons - both are corporate entities which have a separate legal existence.

Coinseeker

sr. member

Activity: 252

Merit: 250

Dissolve.

glendall

legendary

Activity: 2156

Merit: 1018

Buzz App - Spin wheel, farm rewards

Was the lawsuit going to be for 75m USD or BTC ?

Wilikon

legendary

Activity: 1176

Merit: 1001

minds.com/Wilikon

Max Keiser could be the best president ever...

Joking. Breath.

moni3z

hero member

Activity: 899

Merit: 1002

The foundation really only exists so Gavin can get paid to work on bitcoin. We should just give him donations and lure him away from that corporate mess of infighting and crony special interests. Fuck that whole foundation, and their silly private forums

wumpus

hero member

Activity: 812

Merit: 1022

No Maps for These Territories

I'm starting to have doubts with the Bitcoin Foundation as well. Too much drama about internal politics, and not enough funding of development of the bitcoin network and client.

To the outside world, with this kind of apparent infighting, Coinlab and MtGox show that they do not have the good of bitcoin at heart, but enlarging their own piece of the pie. Even if it results in the overall pie getting smaller.

btbrae

hero member

Activity: 680

Merit: 500

I believe in contract law and think Coinlab has every right to sue if there was a breach.

But in the same context, two parties representing Bitcoin at such a level, not able to sort out their problems without throwing their handbags at each other in a very public way. The Bitcoin Foundation can do what it wants, but they are quickly losing all the credibility that they (never) had.

grondilu

legendary

Activity: 1288

Merit: 1080

Quote from: Severian on May 03, 2013, 10:31:24 AM

In light of the lawsuit brought by Coinlab against Mtgox and as a lifetime member of the Bitcoin Foundation, I'm calling for a removal of the board (with the exception of Gavin Andresen) and a new board to be appointed. The Bitcoin Foundation has lost whatever credibility it had with this lawsuit, a lawsuit brought by the executive director against a fellow board member.

Bitcoin itself is a maturing technology. The same can't be said for all of its advocates.

/mode sarcasm ON

You're right: let's sue them!

/mode sarcasm OFF

Severian

sr. member

Activity: 476

Merit: 250

Quote from: cypherdoc on May 03, 2013, 11:04:17 AM

Unless you have a credible method for replacements I'm not sure what you accomplish.

You and I would be credible replacements compared to this nonsense.

Brushan

member

Activity: 224

Merit: 10

I fully agree with OP. It is clear that the foundation's board members only promote Bitcoin when their businesses can profit.

Topic: A call for the Bitcoin Foundation to appoint a new board or dissolve (Read 2949 times)