Esteemed members of the Electronic Gulden community / dear EFL fanatics,
The establishment of a Foundation which would be tasked to take over the distribution of the pre-mine EFL from the founding developers has been repeatedly mentioned in the e-Gulden forum. The decision to establish such a foundation was made at a meeting held in Amsterdam on May 20th, 2014. For details please refer to the state of affairs message, hereafter. We have provisionally chosen a name for this, community-driven initiative, namely the Electronic Gulden Foundation. The Foundation’s goal is to introduce the EFL as a full-fledged, widely accepted, Alt coin in The Netherlands – and beyond – and to safeguard the integrity of the coin. We aim to attain this goal by managing the orderly distribution of the content of the pre-mine wallets, promoting the (use of) the EFL and assisting in the further development of the EFL.
First we would like to introduce ourselves, as members of the “Board to be” of the Foundation being established. We are:
Gerrit Oerlemans, known as bitwise-shifted at the e-Gulden forum. I have an academic background and I am the proprietor of a software company. I am fascinated by Bitcoin and Alt coins, especially what these could mean for all of us in the near future. I am available as Treasurer of the Foundation. 
Niels Harmsen, one of the moderators of the forum, known under the alias Nelis. I was born and raised in the city of Breda and I am the founder of the Brabant Regional Currency Coöperative (BRCC). Having a financial background I have been involved with Bitcoin and Alt coins for some time, now. I am also providing honest information to the general public about the challenges and threats today’s “currency” (euro and other fiat currencies) pose. I am the intended Secretary of the Foundation.
Henk Compier, Hman in e-Gulden forum speak. I am a commercial and general management professional in publishing ICT. For me it is obvious that the current system of fiat currency, such as the euro, no longer functions and that we are on the verge of a monetary collapse. We need to take control of our financial future ourselves, without the involvement of governmental bodies or murky financial conglomerates. I feel we (the people!) can, at least partially, achieve this goal by supporting and accepting the EFL. I am the designated Chairperson of the Foundation.It is obvious that, after this April’s introduction of the EFL, a numbers of issues have arisen. Communication with the founding developers of the Electronic Gulden can be typified as being awkward and tedious. A number of issues and questions from the community are yet to be addressed by them. You will appreciate that we will only start establishing the Foundation after a correct transfer of the EFL from the developers to the “Board to be” has taken place and not before.
We hope to conclude this process shortly so that the Gulden can again take its rightful (electronic) place in the heart of The Netherlands.
According to Dutch law, the Board of a Foundation has to consist of at least three persons. As the composition of the Board is not yet chiselled in stone we would certainly welcome members of the EFL community to join, especially those who are willing to invest a great deal of their time and energy.
Message from the Board (to be) – State of Affairs till now
On May 20th a meeting was held at the Bastion Deluxe Hotel in Amsterdam, by initiative of a number of members from the e-Gulden forum. The aim of the meeting was to explore how to propel the EFL after launch further, possibly by establishing a foundation. This was to happen together with the developers and community manager of e-Gulden.com and some enthusiasts from the forum, who had stated their interest in getting the EFL back on track. Five people, amongst whom the co-signatories of this message, attended the meeting. Unfortunately there were no attendants from the side of the founding developers of the Electronic Gulden. Those present at the meeting agreed that the establishment of a foundation to assist the EFL in its early days, would be a good idea, anyway.
Please note that we are aware that the EFL is, in principle, a modified version of Bitcoin and as such any form of centralized control is unwanted. However, until the EFL reaches maturity, we feel that a level of assistance is required, especially since the EFL has a substantial pre-mine component, with the inherent risk that this might disrupt the market. Assistance is also required in terms of the software environment, until such a time that the community is convinced that the EFL can be safely used and is backed by a solid development group. Naturally, guidance is an option, not a definitive need but we feel this could positively contribute to lowering the threshold to the acceptance of the EFL.
At this moment the state of the pre-mine is our main concern. As long as there is no clear and open accounting system available and as long as the bookkeeping is not released to the general audience, the EFL has a shaky base. Even if we believe that a healthy market can absorb an uncontrolled release of 50% of the pre-mine, the foundation cannot take responsibility for this. So far, the foundation - to be- has worked very hard to get a clear picture of the current state of affairs. Almost half of the pre-mine is now controlled by the Board of the Foundation: public address LZQnw2pCvnTKVbYuuB7UcfnPGVKjfRVLTi (balance 5,039,340.10 EFL). The accountability of the remainder is still the responsibility of the founding developers of the EFL.
Our greatest challenge is the communication with the founding developers. They cloak themselves in anonymity in their behaviour towards the community including the undersigned. Communications is awkward at best. Although their anonymity is no longer completely intact we would, of course, respect their wishes for continued anonymity, if our goal can be attained. That goal is complete transparency over the remainder of the pre-mine. The founders of the EFL have communicated their WILLINGNESS to transfer, but accountability over 5,460,660 EFL of the pre-mine is still lacking.
Until recently, the e-Gulden.com website stated that 17.4% of the pre-mine had already been distributed. If that meant that distribution had taken place in the form of packages of “50 gratis EFL to the Dutch households” we ascertained, by researching the blockchain, that this is not correct. If rewards for the development of EFL tools, as stated elsewhere on the e-Gulden.com website, are included in this percentage we certainly have mixed feelings about this. The whole of the pre-mine was meant for distribution to Dutch households, and any EFL development was to be funded through donations.
On the website page “Beloningen” (Rewards) an amount of almost 2,000,000 EFL has been “accounted for”. That, in itself, is already more than the previously stated 17.4% distributed and still leaves us with 3,500,000 EFL that yet needs to be accounted for.
Such ambiguities are currently hovering above the EFL market. We assume the good will of the founders and accept that they may currently working on their administration. We also assume that they, too, will benefit from an orderly transfer of the EFL pre-mine. It is therefore that we would like to call upon the community to constructively and positively contribute to the process. Likewise we call upon the developers/founders of the EFL to complete, a properly accounted for, transfer on a very short notice.
The founders of the EFL cannot continue to keep the community in the dark, in perpetuity. As they already ignored deadlines and past agreements we are investigating the possibilities to break an impasse. Any and all suggestions towards doing this are indeed very welcome and you are warmly invited to contribute, preferably by sending your suggestions to our temporary email address: [email protected]
Signed:
Henk Compier, Niels Harmsen en Gerrit Oerlemans
There is also a ONLINE VERSION of this announcement