5 ms·

Bitcoin Foundation Launches to ‘Standardize, Protect and Promote’ Bitcoin

89 points by nitashatiku 14y ago

kiba 14y ago
Of course, the Linux Foundation is about promoting an operating system that has been largely marginalized Bollocks. Linux has not been marginalized. It is dominating the server market, embedded devices, and smartphones in the form of android. whereas the Bitcoin Foundation will work to promote a cryptocurrency sometimes used for blackmarket activity. Haven't you heard? The dollars are used for black market activities too.
- javert 14y ago
  I just want to clarify that kiba is criticizing the betabeat article, not the bitcoin devs. Given that some core Bitcoin devs are also Linux kernel devs, they would not make the big mistake of saying that Linux is marginalized.
  - batgaijin 14y ago
    That kernel/bitcoin link is something I haven't heard of and pretty interesting, do you have any sources?
    - wmf 14y ago
      Jeff Garzik, Con Colivas. Anyone else?
      - javert 14y ago
        Those are the only ones I can think of (and likely the only ones).
TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
Here's their website: https://www.bitcoinfoundation.org/ https://www.bitcoinfoundation.org/
- runeks 14y ago
  Looks down from here :( (and here: http://www.isup.me/www.bitcoinfoundation.org http://www.isup.me/www.bitcoinfoundation.org)
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    So it is. They also have the domain http://www.bitcoinfoundation.com/ http://www.bitcoinfoundation.com/ - but no luck.
tokenadult 14y ago
A while ago I wrote that perhaps the greatest contribution the Bitcoin experiment will make to humankind is to teach you and me and our neighbors more about the realities of economics. And now I will add that the Bitcoin experiment will also contribute to greater understanding of how nonprofit industry associations are organized to protect the economic interests of for-profit businesses. A lot of new industries have discovered that a few bad actors who screw up early can damage the reputation of the entire industry, and there are many previous examples of "competing" companies in a new industry banding together to promote consumer protection, as they say, and to promote the growth of their market. We'll see how this goes for Bitcoin.
- andrewljohnson 14y ago
  "A lot of new industries have discovered that a few bad actors who screw up early can damage the reputation of the entire industry" Please cite some examples. I can't come up with any, and this is intuitively false to me. Productive industries steamroll over bad actors and indiscretion. Railroads, gold-mining, and arguably social gaming were propelled by bad actors.
volts 14y ago
I think an encrypted currency base managed only by computers and the market is fairer than a system run by a few men. Also I like privacy.
- wmf 14y ago
  I think it could be fairer or it could be a way to get stuck with a broken monetary policy forever.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    Bitcoin can easily be forked and changed though.
    - wmf 14y ago
      I am not sure that is true. As small as the ecosystem is, I would not want to try to duplicate it.
      - barmstrong 14y ago
        In a very literal sense it can be forked: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin You wouldn't need to try and duplicate an ecosystem. People with nodes on the network would "vote with their CPU power" to support the version they liked the best - so the best one would naturally get the most support.
        wmf 14y ago
        the best one would naturally get the most support I don't think so. A "better" Bitcoin fork that has no MtGox, no BitInstant, no BitPay, no blockexplorer, etc. would probably have very low adoption.
        mkramlich 14y ago
        agree and disagree. if a fork is demonstrably, significantly better, then adoption will grow and eventually, in general, the better will win. this is how evolution works.
olalonde 14y ago
Here's a list of all the anonymous donations they have received so far (doesn't include membership donations): http://blockexplorer.com/address/1BTCorgHwCg6u2YSAWKgS17qUad6kHmtQW http://blockexplorer.com/address/1BTCorgHwCg6u2YSAWKgS17qUad... (currently 26.5 BTC)
- vessenes 14y ago
  I hope we'll be publishing first-day membership numbers as well. My goal is to publish all our public keys. How cool would that be? Total financial transparency.
jboggan 14y ago
Ah, the long-storied September announcement. Pretty good idea overall. I'd be happiest seeing a set of security best-practices agreed upon and some sort of mechanism for organizations and businesses to elect for auditing.
- vessenes 14y ago
  Totally agreed; this and paying Gavin were my two main motivations upfront. I really desire bitcointalk'ers to have some objective way to assess business quality when they consider how many percent per week return is a reasonable no-risk promise.

89 points by nitashatiku 14y ago

kiba 14y ago

Of course, the Linux Foundation is about promoting an operating system that has been largely marginalized Bollocks. Linux has not been marginalized. It is dominating the server market, embedded devices, and smartphones in the form of android. whereas the Bitcoin Foundation will work to promote a cryptocurrency sometimes used for blackmarket activity. Haven't you heard? The dollars are used for black market activities too.

javert 14y ago
I just want to clarify that kiba is criticizing the betabeat article, not the bitcoin devs. Given that some core Bitcoin devs are also Linux kernel devs, they would not make the big mistake of saying that Linux is marginalized.
- batgaijin 14y ago
  That kernel/bitcoin link is something I haven't heard of and pretty interesting, do you have any sources?
  - wmf 14y ago
    Jeff Garzik, Con Colivas. Anyone else?
    - javert 14y ago
      Those are the only ones I can think of (and likely the only ones).

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago

Here's their website: https://www.bitcoinfoundation.org/ https://www.bitcoinfoundation.org/

runeks 14y ago
Looks down from here :( (and here: http://www.isup.me/www.bitcoinfoundation.org http://www.isup.me/www.bitcoinfoundation.org)
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  So it is. They also have the domain http://www.bitcoinfoundation.com/ http://www.bitcoinfoundation.com/ - but no luck.

tokenadult 14y ago

A while ago I wrote that perhaps the greatest contribution the Bitcoin experiment will make to humankind is to teach you and me and our neighbors more about the realities of economics. And now I will add that the Bitcoin experiment will also contribute to greater understanding of how nonprofit industry associations are organized to protect the economic interests of for-profit businesses. A lot of new industries have discovered that a few bad actors who screw up early can damage the reputation of the entire industry, and there are many previous examples of "competing" companies in a new industry banding together to promote consumer protection, as they say, and to promote the growth of their market. We'll see how this goes for Bitcoin.

andrewljohnson 14y ago
"A lot of new industries have discovered that a few bad actors who screw up early can damage the reputation of the entire industry" Please cite some examples. I can't come up with any, and this is intuitively false to me. Productive industries steamroll over bad actors and indiscretion. Railroads, gold-mining, and arguably social gaming were propelled by bad actors.

volts 14y ago

I think an encrypted currency base managed only by computers and the market is fairer than a system run by a few men. Also I like privacy.

wmf 14y ago
I think it could be fairer or it could be a way to get stuck with a broken monetary policy forever.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  Bitcoin can easily be forked and changed though.
  - wmf 14y ago
    I am not sure that is true. As small as the ecosystem is, I would not want to try to duplicate it.
    - barmstrong 14y ago
      In a very literal sense it can be forked: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin You wouldn't need to try and duplicate an ecosystem. People with nodes on the network would "vote with their CPU power" to support the version they liked the best - so the best one would naturally get the most support.
      - wmf 14y ago
        the best one would naturally get the most support I don't think so. A "better" Bitcoin fork that has no MtGox, no BitInstant, no BitPay, no blockexplorer, etc. would probably have very low adoption.
        mkramlich 14y ago
        agree and disagree. if a fork is demonstrably, significantly better, then adoption will grow and eventually, in general, the better will win. this is how evolution works.

olalonde 14y ago

Here's a list of all the anonymous donations they have received so far (doesn't include membership donations): http://blockexplorer.com/address/1BTCorgHwCg6u2YSAWKgS17qUad6kHmtQW http://blockexplorer.com/address/1BTCorgHwCg6u2YSAWKgS17qUad... (currently 26.5 BTC)

vessenes 14y ago
I hope we'll be publishing first-day membership numbers as well. My goal is to publish all our public keys. How cool would that be? Total financial transparency.

jboggan 14y ago

Ah, the long-storied September announcement. Pretty good idea overall. I'd be happiest seeing a set of security best-practices agreed upon and some sort of mechanism for organizations and businesses to elect for auditing.

vessenes 14y ago
Totally agreed; this and paying Gavin were my two main motivations upfront. I really desire bitcointalk'ers to have some objective way to assess business quality when they consider how many percent per week return is a reasonable no-risk promise.