Author

Topic: Why Support The Bitcoin Foundation (Read 1888 times)

legendary
Activity: 3430
Merit: 3080
November 20, 2012, 08:53:01 AM
#8
Have you considered adding certain minor/easy perks for membership?  Sometimes they help push people over the edge into supporting something they like anyways.

For example, the Linux Foundation has a few deals with vendors for discounts and membership comes with an @linux.com email address which automatically forwards to another address for you.  Maybe you could work with some of the bitcoin vendors for discounts on their services to your members or offer an @bitcoin.com email forward.

good plan, could be a pretty good promotional tool if done right (can't help but be reminded of the early days of Gmail when it was invite only). Although, who knows when the foundation will have the resources to run a busy e-mail server, I wonder if it's anything close to their top priority right now.



How about this: I seem to remember reading about how Gavin Andresen wants to eventually implement a secure way of mapping public keys to a sending address that reads like an e-mail address. In the event that that is achieved (and depending on whether the implementation uses the @ convention), perhaps the foundation could take out ownership of the bitcoin.org domain, or whatever domain they deem most appropriate, and then provide those addresses exclusively to foundation members.

I have no idea whether the software engineering challenge would permit such a thing, maybe someone from the dev team could enlighten us.

That would help them to better track you wouldn't it?



I don't think it would mean that that sort of address scheme would be mandatory, the old system of random letters and numbers would continue to work too
sr. member
Activity: 434
Merit: 250
100%
November 19, 2012, 07:47:46 PM
#7
Have you considered adding certain minor/easy perks for membership?  Sometimes they help push people over the edge into supporting something they like anyways.

For example, the Linux Foundation has a few deals with vendors for discounts and membership comes with an @linux.com email address which automatically forwards to another address for you.  Maybe you could work with some of the bitcoin vendors for discounts on their services to your members or offer an @bitcoin.com email forward.

good plan, could be a pretty good promotional tool if done right (can't help but be reminded of the early days of Gmail when it was invite only). Although, who knows when the foundation will have the resources to run a busy e-mail server, I wonder if it's anything close to their top priority right now.



How about this: I seem to remember reading about how Gavin Andresen wants to eventually implement a secure way of mapping public keys to a sending address that reads like an e-mail address. In the event that that is achieved (and depending on whether the implementation uses the @ convention), perhaps the foundation could take out ownership of the bitcoin.org domain, or whatever domain they deem most appropriate, and then provide those addresses exclusively to foundation members.

I have no idea whether the software engineering challenge would permit such a thing, maybe someone from the dev team could enlighten us.

That would help them to better track you wouldn't it?

legendary
Activity: 3430
Merit: 3080
November 19, 2012, 06:07:21 PM
#6
Have you considered adding certain minor/easy perks for membership?  Sometimes they help push people over the edge into supporting something they like anyways.

For example, the Linux Foundation has a few deals with vendors for discounts and membership comes with an @linux.com email address which automatically forwards to another address for you.  Maybe you could work with some of the bitcoin vendors for discounts on their services to your members or offer an @bitcoin.com email forward.

good plan, could be a pretty good promotional tool if done right (can't help but be reminded of the early days of Gmail when it was invite only). Although, who knows when the foundation will have the resources to run a busy e-mail server, I wonder if it's anything close to their top priority right now.



How about this: I seem to remember reading about how Gavin Andresen wants to eventually implement a secure way of mapping public keys to a sending address that reads like an e-mail address. In the event that that is achieved (and depending on whether the implementation uses the @ convention), perhaps the foundation could take out ownership of the bitcoin.org domain, or whatever domain they deem most appropriate, and then provide those addresses exclusively to foundation members.

I have no idea whether the software engineering challenge would permit such a thing, maybe someone from the dev team could enlighten us.
legendary
Activity: 2282
Merit: 1050
Monero Core Team
November 19, 2012, 04:25:14 PM
#5
Quote
... Citizens from many countries are blocked out of the typical payment channels like PayPal and credit cards simply because they lack access to a bank account. Sometimes, even those that have banking infrastructures within their countries are blocked out due to poor credit histories or insurmountable fees. ...

This is a huge market for Bitcoin. For an online business large or small Bitcoin brings in a customer who before
1) Had the funds to pay for the product or service
2) Is very keen to purchase the product or service
3) Had no way to pay for the product or service or paying for the product or service was insurmountable

In the bricks and mortar world these people of course use cash everyday and are the major reason why despite over a quarter of a century of attempts to eliminate cash and billions spent on marketing cash stubbornly refuses to go away.

Excellent article by the way
sr. member
Activity: 245
Merit: 250
@serp
November 19, 2012, 04:20:11 PM
#4
Have you considered adding certain minor/easy perks for membership?  Sometimes they help push people over the edge into supporting something they like anyways.

For example, the Linux Foundation has a few deals with vendors for discounts and membership comes with an @linux.com email address which automatically forwards to another address for you.  Maybe you could work with some of the bitcoin vendors for discounts on their services to your members or offer an @bitcoin.com email forward.
legendary
Activity: 1008
Merit: 1023
Democracy is the original 51% attack
legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 1000
--------------->¿?
November 19, 2012, 03:47:54 PM
#2
Great article
sr. member
Activity: 303
Merit: 251
November 19, 2012, 01:25:22 PM
#1
I posted this today at the Bitcoin Foundation website:

Quote
Since the nonprofit Bitcoin Foundation launched in September 2012 I have been asked many times by potential sponsors, “Why would our organization want to support bitcoin and the foundation?” The answer lies in the primary benefits that bitcoin enables in society and those benefits are not always so easy to recognize at first.

As a decentralized and nonpolitical cryptographic money, bitcoin acts as both payment platform and unit of account. In other words, it is both the train track and the train which is what gives bitcoin the ability to function smoothly without third-party intermediaries.

Why is this significant? Without intermediaries, bitcoin is not subject to being appropriated or usurped by governments for their political agendas in the way that monarchs assumed the privileges of minting and stamping the gold coins of the realm, which were eventually ‘clipped’ and later morphed into lower grade metals. Historically, civilized society has not seen an opportunity like this before nor what kind of economic revolution can be sparked by a sustainable, independent monetary unit.....

Continued...
https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=41
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