The Australian Bitcoin Association announced today that it will officially accept new members, having completed the process of becoming a fully-fledged legal entity.

Membership of the Australian Bitcoin Association is open to Australian citizens only. The ABA’s constitution stipulates that the organisation has eight board member positions, seven of which are already filled. The remaining seat is open to both corporate members and individuals.

Membership fees are in line with the US bitcoin Foundation, with whom the Australian association has signed an affiliate agreement. This makes it the first national association outside the US to do so.

Board members

The board of directors currently includes three programmers who are working on a Bitcoin Client, as well as legal and PR experts. They have indicated that they are looking for a legal researcher to join as the final board member.

According to founding member Tristan Winters, the Association is a non-profit organisation whose main function will be to act as a first point of contact for government; liaising with them to help craft a coherent and functional policy towards bitcoin users and businesses.

They also aim to hold the first Australian Bitcoin conference in Sydney next year.

Currently, they have one business and one individual on their books, but remain optimistic that more members will sign up in the future.

Winters says of the association: “It’s a real grass roots organisation, It formed organically from Beers for bitcoins and the Bitcoin Sydney Meetup and we’ve managed to convince one bricks-and-mortar business to take bitcoin: The Old Fitzroy’ pub in Sydney.”

The new Association is keen to foster cooperation between the English-speaking common law countries, such as Canada and Britain.

Australia Map image via Shutterstock