Olivier Janssens, a newly elected member of the Bitcoin Foundation's board, posted a lengthy message on Reddit late Thursday night describing the organization's collapse. The Foundation, he claimed, h
Olivier Janssens, a newly elected member of the Bitcoin Foundation's board, posted a lengthy message on Reddit late Thursday night describing the organization's collapse. The Foundation, he claimed, had exhausted its funds and laid off 90 percent of staff, though some departed employees agreed to continue volunteering.
Janssens identified two culprits for the financial crisis. The Foundation scattered its resources across too many initiatives. When it narrowed its focus to funding core development, expecting donors to back what seemed like a worthy cause, the strategy backfired. Donors withheld support.
"The Bitcoin Foundation is effectively bankrupt. As a result of 2 years of ridiculous spending and poorly thought out decisions, they almost ran out of money in November of last year. In extremis, but way too late, they decided to select a new executive director during that time. That new director decided that the only way to still get funds at that point, was to focus solely on funding core development, in the hope that people would see that as a good cause. But people were smart enough not to trust the Foundation anymore. Despite it's intentions, they failed to collect the necessary funds to support this idea. With the election in February-March, it became clear that people did not want the Foundation meddling with core development. The truth is that the Foundation's plan was to hire even more core devs + to start a Bitcoin Standards Body. No organization should have this much control over Bitcoin, and a disaster was avoided," Janssens wrote.
The Foundation's board, Janssens said, sought to contain his message. When he and fellow newly elected director Jim Harper called for the board meeting to be recorded, other members blocked the motion and disregarded parliamentary procedure. They cited more pressing concerns, Janssens said.
Harper provided his own account in a message within the same Reddit thread. He gave an interview to CoinDesk after the board elections, he noted. The Foundation's leadership, he said, believed his candor about the organization's troubles would damage it.
"I didn't do any press release. I think Olivier is referring to the post-election interview I gave to Coindesk. I gather[ed] that Patrick and some on the board felt that my being not dishonest about the condition of the foundation damaged the foundation," Harper wrote.
Executive Director Patrick Murck would step down, Janssens added. Murck planned to launch a separate Bitcoin Foundation centered on core development funding.
Gavin Andresen, the lead developer of Bitcoin's core software, weighed in on the Foundation's forum. His remarks seemed to validate what Janssens had described.
"I had an idealistic vision of the Foundation being a member-driven organization, but that never happened. Now would be a good time for you, the membership, to make me proud and come together and figure out a vision for the Foundation moving forward. What do you want to do, and how will that get paid for? 'The Foundation will support core development' vision didn't work; I took a couple of weeks off from doing technical work to meet with people capable of funding that vision and it very quickly became clear most 'deep pockets' don't trust that the Foundation would stick to that vision, or aren't willing to risk their reputations being closely associated with an organization that had two of its Board members resign in disgrace last year[.]" Andresen wrote.
Andresen defended the Foundation on Twitter, claiming it exerted no control over development. His forum comments, though, aligned with Janssens' characterization of the organization's financial troubles.
Janssens, an early Bitcoin investor and millionaire, pledged to inject substantial funds into the ecosystem himself. He would donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover salaries for Gavin Andresen, Wladimir van der Laan, and other core developers over the next year, he said. He structured the arrangement so core developers, not himself, would manage the fund. This move, he explained, aligned with his broader mission to prevent any single party from controlling Bitcoin's development.
"A special trust fund is being created and I will donate several 100k to pre-pay Gavin's, Wladimirs and some other core devs wage for the next year (if they choose to accept). The control of this trust fund will be handed over to the core devs, who can decide who can join it. Alternatively, we can give voting power to everyone who puts money in it (pro-rata). I will also organize crowdfunds and help make this fund public. At no point do I want to have any control whatsoever," Janssens said.
Janssens urged Foundation members to vote out the current board. The bylaws permitted 15 percent of members to trigger a special meeting, he noted. Members should demand transparency about the Foundation's operations. If they chose to keep the organization, they should elect new leadership. If not, they could dissolve it and seek refunds, though Janssens acknowledged the Foundation's coffers might be depleted. He offered to make up any shortfall from his own pocket.
Janssens had made waves a year earlier by offering a 100,000-dollar bounty for software that could supplant the Foundation's role in funding core development. That initiative led to Lighthouse, a crowdfunding platform built on blockchain technology.
The Bitcoin Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.
