Bitcoin Foundation in financial trouble, two board members leave

Bitcoin Foundation board members Jim Harper and Olivier Janssens have resigned from the organization over disagreements over the future of the advocacy group.

Long-standing disagreements among Bitcoin Foundation board members over whether the organization should be dissolved came to a head during a meeting this morning ET, with both Harper and Jensen voting to shut down the foundation.

In a statement, Bitcoin Foundation vice chairman and BTCC CEO Bobby Lee said the organization accepted Jim Harper’s resignation following a vote. Harper confirmed the news to CoinDesk and called it “not acrimonious.”

One of the more controversial votes was initiated by Bobby Lee to remove long-time controversial board member Oliver Johnson.

In the statement, Johnson said he hopes the foundation will continue to operate and provided a future plan for the organization.

"They wanted everyone to start raising money so they could come up with a plan. I said I would not feel comfortable if we were raising money without a plan," Johnson wrote in the Reddit post.

According to the minutes of the foundation's meeting released on October 20, the organization has enough remaining funds to keep it running until明年三月份, and the recent meeting also brought in a small amount of income.

Bitcoin Foundation director Bruce Fenton praised the two members for leaving, but he believed the foundation would now be better positioned.

Boiling Pot

In fact, Johnson had long discovered that he was no longer suitable for the foundation. In his opinion, the Bitcoin Foundation no longer had the support of the Bitcoin community.

"I have been a thorn in the foundation's side since the beginning, and they are waiting for the right time to remove me. In reality, the foundation is dead. They want to try to continue, just for the sake of fame and self-esteem, but they have no support from the community anymore," he wrote.

On social media, Jensen has received some support, including from Peter Vessenes former chairman and founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, who believes that shutting down the foundation would be the best option.

“I voted for you, Olivier, and I also support closing the foundation and returning donations to members in proportion to their contributions, which is something the remaining board members do not want to do,” he wrote.

Harper, the foundation’s longtime global policy adviser, told CoinDesk that he believes the foundation lacks vision, but that he’s not necessarily referring to its new chairman, Brock Pierce, or trustee Bruce Fenton.

“The foundation has been short-sighted, I think it’s not well organized, and it’s really proven to be unstable. It hasn’t changed enough,” he said. “But I think the community still needs a good advocacy organization.”

The way forward

Those who participated in the meeting that day still seemed unclear about what the foundation should do next.

Now, while the seven-member board is not fully staffed, it still needs to stay afloat. Aside from Janssens and Harper, the seat previously reserved for the founder remains vacant.

In a statement, Bobby Lee said the foundation will continue its efforts, such as holding DevCore conferences, the most recent of which was held in October at Draper University in San Mateo, California.

“In recent months, the Executive Director has been able to significantly reduce costs, and the Foundation has been able to add value to the ecosystem, hosting conferences such as DevCore…”

Another question about the foundation's future concerns board members Malka and McCauley, who will end their terms on December 31.

Foundation director Fenton noted that the board is carefully studying the election system and may consider relaxing the appointment of some or all members.

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/harper-janssens-exit-bitcoin-foundation/
By Pete Rizzo
Compiled by: Satuoxi
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/exit-bitcoin-foundation)