Bitcoin Foundation
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| Formation | September 2012 |
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| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., USA |
| Website | bitcoinfoundation |
The Bitcoin Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation. It was founded in September 2012 with the stated mission to "standardize, protect and promote the use of bitcoin cryptographic money for the benefit of users worldwide." The organization was modeled on the Linux Foundation and is funded mainly through grants made by for-profit companies that depend on the bitcoin technology.
In March 2014, the Foundation hired Jim Harper of the Cato Institute as Global Policy Counsel and Amy Weiss of Weiss Public Affairs as a media consultant.
According to its founding documents, the Bitcoin Foundation's original members included Gavin Andresen, Charlie Shrem, Mark Karpeles, Peter Vessenes, Roger Ver, and Patrick Murck. Current board members are divided into one of three categories: Founding Members, Industry Members, and Individual Members. The board is made up of a combination of elected members of the aforementioned categories.
Former lead bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen is employed by the foundation as "chief scientist." In June 2013, the foundation received media attention when it published a letter from the California Department of Financial Institutions requesting that they "cease and desist from conducting the business of money transmission in this state," and again when it published their detailed response to the regulators. In November 2013, Patrick Murck, general counsel of the Bitcoin Foundation, testified before a United States Senate committee convened to assess digital currencies, at which the reception of bitcoin by lawmakers was generally positive.
Bitcoin Foundation's board of directors, as of May 2014, included chairperson Peter Vessenes, Gavin Andresen, Bobby Lee, Micky Malka, Jon Matonis, Brock Pierce, and Elizabeth Ploshay. In October 2014, Jon Matonis resigned from his position of Executive Director of the Foundation, and at the end of the election cycle on 31 December 2014 stepped down from the group's board of directors.
BTC China CEO Bobby Lee and venture capitalist Brock Pierce were appointed to the foundation's board of directors following a May 2014 runoff election, filling vacancies left by the earlier resignations of former BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem and Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès. Nine members of the foundation resigned following the May election, citing opposition to the appointments and the direction of the organization.
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