Loyal Idiots,
For those of you who have been regular readers, you know that it is incredibly rare for me to miss a Daily Bit. These past 72 hours have been among the most stressful of my life, and I have been betrayed by some of those within the industry whom I had trusted.
Either I was misled by my sources or my sources were misled by Peter Vessenes and Jon Matonis over the weekend. I reported on Sunday that they were stepping aside gracefully following their absent leadership during the Mt. Gox scandal. However, yesterday and today I received conflicting reports. One person close to Vessenes told me that not only does the man have no intention to step down as the Bitcoin Foundation’s Chairman, but he intends to run for reelection when his term is up later this year. I don’t know whether I can believe that is true, because it truly would be stunning.
Then again Rob Ford didn’t resign his mayorship either, and he made it onto Jimmy Kimmel.
(Vessenes did not respond to an email yesterday, and a contact number for the foundation redirected to a full voicemailbox.)
But that’s not what bothers me. What truly eats at my core stems from what has happened behind the scenes these past few days. Let me say simply that the failure in leadership across many other firms not named Mt. Gox is stunning. I will say no more at this point for legal reasons, but I can’t remember the last time that I was so professionally disappointed and discouraged by the willful neglect of those who many others would call leaders.
I now know better.
I must be meticulous with every detail that I report from both the Mt. Gox saga and now the incomprehensible mismanagement of the Bitcoin Foundation, a group created ostensibly to be the mouthpiece for an entire revolutionary industry.
Yes, I believe there is troubling circumstantial evidence connecting the two. But this gets into serious territory, and I won’t print it until I am 100% confident in what I am writing. I have been warned by others within the industry that I am now playing a “dangerous game” confronting “powerful” people who are “ruthless and cunning”.
Don’t expect me to blink.
Just please be patient. I won’t back down.
“TwoBit — AKA Ryan Galt — AKA Ryan Selkis seems a bit hot headed but his heart is in the right place. I’ve emailed him a little bit and he’s opinionated but he does go (hard) after facts. With his style he does intermingle opinions and facts and this can be off putting to some people (not my taste). That said, if you simply rewrote everything in his posts in paired paragraphs, one for the facts and one for his opinions, it might ruffle a few less feathers. While he’s (AFAIK) new to the community, he’s made some insightful contributions already.
Track record is everything in the fast moving world of Bitcoin; only time will tell the whole story. But I’m inclined to think his story will work out on the positive side. We shall see.”
-Fellow Lifetime Member Brian Goss on a Bitcoin Foundation Forum thread.
Cheers,
TBI
March 05, 2014 at 02:52AM
