To The Core Development Team
(BCC: BF Board, Craig Sellars & Bitcoin Error Log)

TLDR:   The Bitcoin Foundation is working hard to be an asset to Core Dev and we have some ideas on that -/ we'd appreciate help and feedback.

The Foundation is here and here to stay - lets have this organization be a resource that helps Core and Bitcoin as much as possible.


MOST IMPORTANTLY:   We hope for Core Devs to consider the foundation an asset that belongs to you just as much as us or anyone else.   We've fixed much of what needed fixing and would welcome your help to make this the most effective benefit to Bitcoin it can be.

Some ways this could be carried out:
- Board Seat / I would recommend that the board consider and I believe they would vote to accept a qualified member of the Core Development team to serve - the foundation belongs to you and you can help us lead it

- Committee Chair / Officer Role - as Executive Director I am able to appoint Committee Chairs and officers - I would be glad to appoint a qualified developer to a role of Chief Technology Officer / Chief of Development / Chairman of Technical Development or some similar role - we could then build a committee around this role and fundraise and assist the dev volunteer with time being effective while also aiming to have real impact.
Eric Lombrozo and Greg Maxwell are two names we thought would be a great fit, certainly we'd love feedback from anyone interested

- Speakers bureau / press coverage - we'd welcome any Core Devs to join our speakers bureau or press matching service

- General feedback - we are in this together - we understand that you may not have been a fan of the foundation in the past - many of us were not either (at least three of us, including me, were involved in founding organizations which serve as alternatives)
Please let us know your ideas about how we can use this organization effectively


WHAT IF THE FOUNDATION 'BELONGED' TO YOU PERSONALLY OR CORE -  Closing or destroying the foundation isn't on the table we are here to stay -- however EVERYTHING else is on the table.  If you were an official steward of this organization what would you do tomorrow?


MORE DETAILS:   The foundation, like Bitcoin itself, had its four share of ups and downs early on.   While the group did some good things: funding of three developers, the bitnodes project, some solid events and a response to Bitlicense, there were some stumbles as well.   In general, the decisions most consider to be mistakes at the foundation were the result of management that is long gone.   The current team, the board and I, volunteered our time to make the foundation the best asset it can be.

A COUPLE INTERESTING FACTS:
My role as Executive Director had previously been a paid role with a $100,000 salary.
Currently I serve in this role as an unpaid volunteer.
Likewise all board seats are volunteer positions.
No board member or me as Executive Director receives any compensation at all for this work.  We also do not have any related business, travel pay or any other such perks.
Bobby Lee / BTCC, Brock Pierce and I personally each donated $10,000 to the foundation this quarter

The Bitcoin Foundation is the oldest and largest industry group with, by far, the most broad cross section of key industry leaders as members: Circle, Xapo, BTCC, Bitpay, BitFury and many many others.  We also represent individual members ranging from newcomers to long time Bitcoin leaders and early adopters to many Core Devs such as Greg Maxwell and Peter Todd.

Most importantly, we are objective, neutral and global.  We have maintained representation of a wide variety of members on all sides of major issues and also are the most major organization working on a global scale.

NICK SZABO GRANT RECOMMENDATION FOR CRUCIAL BITCOIN SECURITY STUDY

We've spoken to cryptographer and digital asset expert Nick Szabo for his help and suggestions on the most effective use of a grant.  (Please note, his involvement is confidential until the donation received and he confirms.)

In summary:

There is is a large amount of code development based on handwaving. In Nick's opinion the blocksize debate showed that even some of the developers don’t really know how secure Bitcoin is  they are at the very least very reluctant to talk about the topic, which leaves everybody else in the dark (and not knowing whether some of the developers themselves are in that dark  having talked with them about these topics Nick is afraid that many of them are).  That is the biggest reason there is so much heat and so little light in the blocksize and related debates about performance vs. security.

So instead of primarily funding yet more development he instead recommends using the funds to increase the rigor of the thinking involved. Specifically, Nick recommends providing it to:

(a) a computer scientist (or small group of same) who is/are familiar with probabilistic and anonymous Byzantine consensus generally, and Bitcoin and Ethereum specifically, in order to

(b) write a paper on proofs of security (technically a proof of highly reliability in a Byzantine consensus-like model that includes defense against Sybil attacks) in abstract models based on Bitcoin and Ethereum, and discuss assumptions and limitations when applying those proofs to actual Bitcoin and Ethereum (this is the most important part), and optionally

(c) recommending or designing next-generation blockchain technology based on improving on those assumptions or reducing those limitations

Nick has agreed to recommend computer scientists who would make good referees to peer review such a paper.

He is a widely respected and relatively non-controversial figure in this industry who also has among the deepest understanding of the real issues facing Bitcoin.   The board and I believe that this may be an effective possible use of the funds.

We'd also like feedback from core for any development funding or other initiatives you suggest.



OVERALL ACTIVITIES / WHERE THE BITCOIN FOUNDATION IS TODAY

In addition to the Nick Szabo proposal and development grants, the foundation supports many activities which we believe are beneficial to the Bitcoin ecosystem.


A few notable points:
· The Bitcoin Foundation remains the largest industry group and one of the only major industry groups with an international focus.

· Membership includes over 1500 and many of the top industry leaders including KnC, BitPay, BitFury, BTCC, ItBit, Circle, Blockchain, Perkins Coie, Chain, Ok, Pillsbury, Lightspeed, Xapo and many others.

· We have international affiliates in a dozen countries and members all over the world.

· All board members, the Executive Director serve as unpaid volunteers.

· Expenses for the foundation have been significantly reduced and fixed costs are very low - currently at less than 10% of peak spending

· Current Board Members:

Elizabeth McCauley (formerly Ploshay), Global Business Development Head, Coinsecure
Bobby Lee, CEO, BTCC (Board Vice Chair)
Vinny Lingham, Founder, Civic and Gyft
Michael Perklin, Head of Security (Ledger Labs), President (C4)
Brock Pierce, Managing Director, Blockchain Capital (Board Chair)
Francis Pouliot, Director-Bitcoin Embassy


          Other volunteers include:  Executive Director, Bruce Fenton (Atlantic Financial)
          Chairman of the Regulatory Affairs Committee, Marco Santori, Education Committee, Colin Gallagher and many others

· As discussed above, the main focus areas for The Bitcoin Foundation are in three areas:

1.     Developing Development:  increasing the number of developers and the training and knowledge available to them - the flagship of this area is our  DevCore event series, next slated for Toronto - past speakers include Greg Maxwell, Charlie Lee, Jeff Garzik, Matt Corallo, Andreas Antonopoulos, Jeremy Allaire and many others.

2.     Education and adoption:  our Education Committee focuses on providing knowledge, white papers, and data to individuals and organizations with a goal of explaining the technology and increasing usage.

3.     Promoting technical solutions to industry and regulatory challenges:  the Bitcoin Foundation does not focus on lobbying and, as an internationally focused organization, we do not actively work on legislation issues.  We do however believe that there is benefit in education of international regulators and officials, particularly with a focus on solutions  of a technical nature.


OTHER INITIATIVES OF INTEREST:
DevCore Toronto @ The Blockchain Training Conference:

The Bitcoin Foundation has hosted a number of DevCore events, these are not-for-profit workshop intensives designed to encourage development.

Following the successful DevCore Boston, London and San Mateo events, The Bitcoin Foundation is proud to be bringing The Blockchain Training Conference to Toronto in June. This conference - the first of its kind - will host hands-on technical courses from DevCore in addition to hands-on non-technical courses teaching them relevant blockchain skills such as tracking bitcoin sales in QuickBooks (for accountants), how to avoid legal issues when using bitcoin in your company (for lawyers and entrepreneurs), and how buying/selling/trading bitcoin works (for investment advisors).

This unique training conference hits two of our three main focus areas and represents  The Bitcoin Foundation’s commitment to preparing the global community for the


Development Communicstions:
One exiting new expansion of our "developing development" efforts is in the area of increasing communication and focusing on common areas of development consensus.
Leading this effort is Craig Sellars who will join me and the board in working to bring industry leaders together and to foster communications between various development opinions, CEOs and the public.

Speakers Bureau:
We have created a Speakers Bureau which includes industry leaders like Andreas Antonopoulos, Nic Cary, Erik Voorhees and many others

Press matching service:
We have an additional group of prominent members and friends of the Bitcoin Foundation who we can match to press inquires based on location and topic



If you are still reading this long email, thank you.

More importantly, thank you for the work you do on this mission critical software that makes this amazing tech we all love and care about possible.

We know your work is misunderstood and unappreciated at times and we also understand that we and Bitcoin owe you a great debt.

Please let us do our part and make this organization a resource that you are happy with and which is seen as an asset to core.

I available anytime to discuss.

Bruce