Previous Candidates Lingham, Perklin, Pouliot Appointed to Board – Draft Mission Statement Approved for Comment

Today the Bitcoin Foundation Board of Directors took the following actions:

1. Created an International Member seat and appointed the runner up from the previous industry election, Vinny Lingham, to this seat. Approved unanimously.



2. Created two new individual member seats and appointed the next two runners up from the 13 candidates in that election Michael Perklin and Bruce Fenton – Fenton recused himself since he drafted the plan and the board voted to appoint the next runner up after Fenton, Francis Pouliot. Approved unanimously.



3. The board voted to clearly note that there is no change in the bylaws regarding elections, the three appointed seats were made under currency bylaws. Bylaw changes regarding elections will be put up for a member vote. Approved unanimously.



4. The board voted to no longer require membership fees or revenue sharing from international affiliate chapters. Approved unanimously.

5. The board voted to change the founding member seat to internati0anl and remove this section from bylaws as it expired December 31, 2014.

The board voted to change the seat named for Satoshi Nakamoto to an optional one, if and when Satoshi ever reveals him or herself.

6. The board voted to continue the existence of the foundation.. Approved unanimously.

7. The board voted to publish a draft mission statement for member comment and to create a 2016 action pl;an to be discussed by next board meeting. The mission statement is published at https://github.com/BruceFenton/bitcoinfoundationplan Approved unanimously.

Welcome to our new board members!

Details Below

Bitcoin Foundation Mission Statement and Votes

Today’s Board Meeting

VOTES

I. Creation of International Board Seat

The Chair notes that based on the bylaws Section 5.2, the board is below its minimum number of seats required.

The foundation has additionally discussed the creation an international board seat for some time.

Under section 5.4 (d), the board may create new seats and appoint interim directors to those seats.

1- The board votes to create an International Member seat.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

2- The board votes to appoint Vinny Lingham, the next runner up in the last public industry election to this seat.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

II Creation of two Individual seats

1 – Under section 5.4 (d) the board votes to create two new individual member seats.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

2- The board votes to appoint the next two runner-up candidates from the last public election field of 13 candidates to these seats. These runner-up appointments are Michael Perklin and Bruce Fenton

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

Fenton states that, as discussed with board members previously, the vote and process makes sense and that he believes it logical for the Executive Director to have a vote, as the last two of three EDs did However since he worked on this plan believes it more objective to and free of a potential conflict of interest to recuse himself and place this acceptance on hold pending a chance for membership vote. Fenton declines board seat.

2(a) Motion to have the seat appointed to the next runner up after Fenton from the last election, Francis Pouliot.

Bobby asks if we are aware if Francis will accept, Fenton notes that, as with Perklin, Francis Pouliot has been spoken to and agreed to accept if the vote carries.

Motion to select next runner up, after Fenton for board seat.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

Chair noted that the selection of the next candidates in the last two elections is the most fair way we can determine to fill the seats.

Michael Perklin and Francis Pouliot join the call.

III. No Change to Bitcoin Foundation Bylaws Governing Elections

1- The board votes to note that no change to the election process is being made at this time, these board appointments are based on existing bylaws. A choice to change the election portion of the bylaws or keep them as is, regarding public member elections, will be subject to member feedback and a member vote.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

IV: International Chapters

The board votes to no longer require membership fees or revenue sharing from international affiliate chapters.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

VI: Replacement of Founding Members section with International Member Class / Changing the Satoshi Nakamoto Board seat to Optional

The founding member class section of the bylaws covered the initial founding board members of the organization and became irrelevant with the last vacancy from that original member class on December 31, 2014.

The board votes to update the Bylaws to remove this now outdated section. This has no bearing on the functionality, governance or current operations of the foundation.

Satoshi Nakamoto was originally listed within the founding member class of the Bitcoin Foundation board. Since we have no indication that knowledge that Satoshi accepted this seat, the board votes to change this seat to optional. In such a case that Satoshi Nakamoto reveals himself or herself (using the PGP Public Key with fingerprint: DE4E FCA3 E1AB 9E41 CE96 CECB 18C0 9E86 5EC9 48A1) and if requested, the board would name him or her to the board automatically.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

VI: Continuing the Foundation

In noting the call by some to discontinue the foundation, the Chair asks if the new board, all of whom were leaders in previous elections feel that this is a mandate from the membership. / “Do you feel that those who voted for you wish for the foundation to continue existing?”

The board votes on whether the foundation should be continued or be shut down.

Question: Should the Bitcoin Foundation continue operations?

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

VII. Mission Statement

It is important to define our mission and the various activities we work on as well as what we stand for. By offering a clear statement, individuals and companies can easily determine if this is something they support.

The board votes to approve the draft mission statement circulated by Fenton and placed on GitHub for the period of one month for member comment and review. A 2016 plan will be discussed by next meeting.

All votes on this topic are with the understanding that the plan will be revised, updated based on member feedback and reviewed in approximately one month.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

Vision: To serve as an international platform for a network of individuals and companies who seek to further development and adoption of Bitcoin and related technology.

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

Mission: To help advance Bitcoin and related technology through education advocacy and outreach across the globe by focusing on three primary areas:

1) Fostering Core Development

2) Furthering education & adoption

3) Working to limit harmful regulations and encourage technical rather than regulatory solutions

Motion made and seconded, passed unanimously

The Chair notes that it is great that former Board Member, Jim Harper has agreed to stay on as a member of the speakers bureau and that we all appreciate this.

The Chair thanks the new board members and expresses excitement about this positive new chapter. Elizabeth echoes the sentiment.

Mission statement posted to https://github.com/BruceFenton/bitcoinfoundationplan

Meeting closed.

DRAFT Bitcoin Foundation Mission Statement

Posted to https://github.com/BruceFenton/bitcoinfoundationplan

For member comment.

Vision: To serve as an international platform for a network of individuals and companies who seek to further development and adoption of Bitcoin and related technology.

Mission: To help advance Bitcoin and related technology through education advocacy and outreach across the globe by focusing on three primary areas:

1) Fostering Core Development

2) Furthering education & adoption

3) Working to limit harmful regulations and encourage technical rather than regulatory solutions

Structure: The Bitcoin Foundation is based in Washington DC and is structured as a 501c(6) non-profit organization. Membership is comprised of individuals and corporate members globally.

The Bitcoin Foundation does not represent the core technology nor have any control over Bitcoin itself. The Bitcoin Foundation is international and focused on the technology in all areas of the world, not any particular country or region. The foundation believes in the core features of Bitcoin such as fungibility and avoiding any segregation of Bitcoins based on origin or previous usage and the features described in the original Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto such as the 21 million coin limit.

Specific focus areas:

FOSTERING CORE DEVELOPMENT

The foundation seeks to foster core development by increasing knowledge about development and increase in the number of developers involved in Bitcoin core and other programming activities of benefit to the overall Bitcoin ecosystem.

The primary tool for this is the DevCore conference series which is designed to “Develop the Developers” there have so far been three DevCore events: London, Boston and San Jose.

The events have included as faculty well known leading developers and technical experts such as Greg Maxwell, Gavin Andresen, Charlie Lee, Jeff Garzik, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Matt Corallo, Jeremy Allaire, Michael Perklin, Sean Neville and others.

Additional work for fostering development is in the areas of exploring better ways to bridge the gap of knowledge between development and the public and corporations.

The foundation Chief Scientist is Gavin Andresen.

The foundation also wishes to create a Technical Communications Committee which will be chaired by someone with significant knowledge about core development. The primary role of this committee will be to bridge the gap between core development and the public and business leaders by updating members of the industry on current events in development and what they mean to the Bitcoin industry.

FUTHERING EDUCATION & ADOPTION

The foundation aims to educate individuals, corporations, government agencies, non-profit organizations and others and to encourage adoption of the technology.

We seek to support activities which increase the number of overall users and the overall general public knowledge. As part of this effort are included several initiatives:

The Bitcoin Foundation Education Committee – currently chaired by Colin Gallagher

The Bitcoin Foundation Adoption Committee (not yet filled)

The Bitcoin Foundation Speakers Bureau – A matching service for speakers. Speakers include Roger Ver, Anthony DiIorio, Michael Terpin, Matt Roszak, Jeff Garzik, Perrianne Boring, Paul Snow, Nick Spanos, Nick Sullivan, former board member Jim Harper, Nicolas Cary, Erik Voorhees, Connie Gallippi and others.

The Bitcoin Foundation Press Referral Program which matches Bitcoin experts with members of the press.

LIMITING REGULATIONS

The Bitcoin Foundation believes that all efforts possible should be made to avoid new regulations governing Bitcoin and related technologies.

We believe that it is most effective to focus on technical solutions rather than regulatory solutions such as by encouraging usage of multi-sig keys, solid audit standards, exchange proof of reserves and other technical based activities.

We believe in educating lawmakers, with a focus on elected officials or the most senior officials possible in jurisdictions without elections and explaining the benefits and core features of Bitcoin as well as offering non-regulatory suggestions and solutions.

This activity is carried out by groups and members such as the

Bitcoin Foundation Regulatory Affairs Committees led by Attorney Marco Santori. The Regulatory Affairs Committee created one of the most comprehensive replies to the original NY Bitlicense, addressing the more onerous provisions of the originally proposed regulation.

End of Mission Statement Draft