I'm Bruce Fenton, Bitcoin Loving Techo-Econ Geek AMA!

[danster82]

Whats your opinion on blocksize. Do you support any current BIP proposals?

[bitc0in]

Hello Bruce,

How did you get your first bitcoins? Was it cheap?

[brucefenton]

Whats your opinion on blocksize. Do you support any current BIP proposals?

One good thing about being Executive Director of the foundation is that I have a good excuse to not answer this.

The foundation serves all members: Gavin is Chief Scientist, Jeff Garzik is a member, Greg Maxwell is a member, Peter Todd, Circle, Roger Ver etc.

It wouldn't be right to take a side when our membership is not clearly on one side as we wouldn't be representing all our members as best we can.

If there is a general consensus and I feel that the overall membership has spoken on the issue then we'd definitely support that.

In the meantime, the best thing I think we can do is encourage dialogue, encourage learning and encourage education.

It is also important to note that not all decisions are best done democratically and not all voices should matter much - my opinion on this matter should only have weight based on technical achievements and technical credibility -- which I dont have. My voice tends to be heard more than people with more knowledge than I have --- this is fine for non-technical matters and engagement - but it would be especially bad if I personally took a side on blocksize because it would get coverage and publicity that I dont deserve based on technical skills.

[brucefenton]

Hello Bruce,

How did you get your first bitcoins? Was it cheap?

I bought my first coins on Mt. Gox - not nearly as cheap as many friends or as cheap as I would have liked.

At the time, Gox was a pain to deal with - I think it tool 9 days and I had to go through Dwalla or something.

[alexgorale]

I was super critical of Matonis-era TBF because I felt like his cadre dropped the ball, almost entirely, and then treated the community like we were idiots.

I wanted to chime in and say that you've made some great choices on direction and the role TBF should serve moving forward. Your accountability and ownership of your position is appreciated. You are clearly leading from the front, instead of hiding behind title and TBF brand and that's rare, and desperately needed.

It's my preference that an organization like TBF fill the space where government would try to stick it's foot in the door. That's not meant in a regulatory sense, more of a means to mitigate bureaucracy and with the smallest footprint possible. I understand how nebulous that wish is to manifest. Ultimately, I see it fulfilled with free materials, education and unification efforts. I believe ignorance of economics is the largest issue spreading Bitcoin.

What efforts, if any, are on the table for TBF to further economic education? It's almost a precondition to understanding Bitcoin that you throw away the phony economics taught in public school and championed by government-types.

Perhaps there is room for TBF to facilitate a common dialog between people by setting a very, very basic level definition, or standards, for our terms? Or, at least, be on the front line of the cognitive dissonance between reality and what the state calls reality.

Also, thank you for verbally vivisecting Lawsky. For the firebrands in this community it was great work. I still re-watch the pummeling when I need a pick-me-up.

[TeslaGen3]

He was asking about physical bitcoins -- the actual metal "coins" typically engraved or with a sticker of a private key on them. I dont own these physical type coins.

I definitely own bitcoins -- I wish I owned more.

So much for my reading clearly lol - Yeah I was going to say that's strange. With that said - how much do you think a person should put at RISK in bitcoin? 2% of Net wealth? 10%, 50%? I am sure the answer is and have been - whatever you can afford to lose right? Thank you for all that you do for the community and I recently have been made aware of you but nice to meet you.

[helloworld]

Thank you for all your contributions to the ecosystem.

Do you recommend Bitcoin to your friends/family/peers?

Do you usually get positive reception?

What was the most negative response you got after explaining it?

All the best!

[TeslaGen3]

Bruce -

I recently became aware of an organization called Miners Center. When I first noticed their press release saying that they will pay 10% above Market value, my spidey senses went bananas. I said to myself, either they know something I don't and Bitcion is about to go crazy (that did happen) or it's a SCAM. Well, after much research and a good friend of mine who runs Bitcoin DC (Now Blockchain DC) he sent them .2 BTC to test it out. Seems that they hacked someone's paypal account and sent him money. What is your thoughts on organizations like this - how can the Bitcoin community dissuade scammers? http://siliconangle.com/blog/2015/11/01 ... is-a-scam/

[nakedbitcoins]

Hi Bruce,

Do you ever see Bitcoin being banned ?

[brucefenton]

I was super critical of Matonis-era TBF because I felt like his cadre dropped the ball, almost entirely, and then treated the community like we were idiots.

I wanted to chime in and say that you've made some great choices on direction and the role TBF should serve moving forward. Your accountability and ownership of your position is appreciated. You are clearly leading from the front, instead of hiding behind title and TBF brand and that's rare, and desperately needed.

It's my preference that an organization like TBF fill the space where government would try to stick it's foot in the door. That's not meant in a regulatory sense, more of a means to mitigate bureaucracy and with the smallest footprint possible. I understand how nebulous that wish is to manifest. Ultimately, I see it fulfilled with free materials, education and unification efforts. I believe ignorance of economics is the largest issue spreading Bitcoin.

What efforts, if any, are on the table for TBF to further economic education? It's almost a precondition to understanding Bitcoin that you throw away the phony economics taught in public school and championed by government-types.

Perhaps there is room for TBF to facilitate a common dialog between people by setting a very, very basic level definition, or standards, for our terms? Or, at least, be on the front line of the cognitive dissonance between reality and what the state calls reality.

Also, thank you for verbally vivisecting Lawsky. For the firebrands in this community it was great work. I still re-watch the pummeling when I need a pick-me-up.

Thanks very much. We have an active education committee - I will mention what you've said and see how much focus is on economics. I do agree that economic understanding is key. We do need to be careful about keep an open big tent and being welcoming for all political beliefs.

If you have ideas or maybe could make a draft covering some of the economic knowledge that would be great -- we can get it in front of the education committee and also maybe make it a guest blog post or something.

Glad you liked the Lawsky speech, it had some things that needed to be said.

[brucefenton]

Thank you for all your contributions to the ecosystem.

Do you recommend Bitcoin to your friends/family/peers?

Do you usually get positive reception?

What was the most negative response you got after explaining it?

All the best!

Thank you.

I don't usually recommend Bitcoin for purchase by family and friends unless it's someone who has a very high net worth. Bitcoin is still very risky and volatile. 23 years in the investment business has taught me that it's never fun to be responsible for someone losing money. If I were to recommend Bitcoin I would only do so as part of an overall financial plan and asset allocation and for a very small percentage of assets that someone could afford to lose.

What I WILL recommend and talk about extensively is the technology and how it works and I encourage everyone to set up a wallet and experiment and buy a few bucks worth to use, not so much as a large investment.

[timryan]

What was the reception in the Middle East and Dubai? Is there any appetite for Bitcoin or development in the Israel startup community?

Thanks!

[brucefenton]

What was the reception in the Middle East and Dubai? Is there any appetite for Bitcoin or development in the Israel startup community?

Thanks!

The Dubai Bitcoin Conference was a great success for a first conference in an area with little Bitcoin exposure at the time. As a reply the local infrastructure grew a bit and there are more projects going on there now.

I don't know much about Israel but would like to go, I think there is an active group there, yes.

[jmdugan]

Hi Bruce,

Jonathan Dugan here. First time posting on this forum.


Can you discuss the ways that the Bitcoin Foundation is increasing transparency on:

* use of finances

* specific activities of the foundation takes

* policies and issues that the community has, and the role or stance the foundation has in these issues

I've noticed that under your leadership all of these have improved compared with previous Foundation activities, and want to see more of them.

Thank you.

[brucefenton]

Hi Bruce,

Jonathan Dugan here. First time posting on this forum.


Can you discuss the ways that the Bitcoin Foundation is increasing transparency on:

* use of finances

* specific activities of the foundation takes

* policies and issues that the community has, and the role or stance the foundation has in these issues

I've noticed that under your leadership all of these have improved compared with previous Foundation activities, and want to see more of them.

Thank you.

Thanks

Sure - I made a commitment to release all finances and we have for the most part - one delay on a few reports, to be frank, is that the current website is not that great and we dont have a webmaster to load them --- the old site was badly broken and when I came aboard I had to throw together a simple site which is what you see now.

But yes, finances have been released and will continue to be ideally on a quarterly or monthly basis.

The specific actions are all pretty public: DevCore, events, we had previously funded Bitcoin.org and bitnodes.

The members are pretty varied so opinions are varied as well. Let me know if there are more specifics on your question

thanks again

[crypter]

Hi Bruce , great to see you taking questions here.
My question is regarding the unbanked.
We often hear the argument that bitcoin will engage the unbanked, yet I can't think of a single bitcoin foundation event that has been held or is planned to be held in Honduras ,Bangladesh or Ethiopia?
Most of the events are held in the rich parts of the world which understandably would drive more money into developing tools and technologies around bitcoin. Yet certain parts of the world are under-represented , if ever represented at all.
Are there any programs or plans in the near future to engage the unbanked?

wishing the bitcoin foundation the best of luck.

[mperklin]

3) Do you own any physical bitcoins and do you see them as a a useful solution to enable people to be able to 'get into' / purchase their first bitcoin?

3- I dont own physical bitcoins but I really like them - they are useful to get people involved -- but the tech with wallets is so easy that this is a great way to bring people on as well - last night I was a guest at a college class and gave a couple students $1 worth of Bitcoin each - its so easy

TGBEX, if you're looking for some original Casascius coins, I have some available for resale. They're in AirTite containers and are in great condition.

Let me know

--Michael

EDIT: Ugh, sorry Bruce. I didn't realize my reply would be unthreaded. I did not mean to hijack your AMA with solicitations to hawk my wares

[brucefenton]

Hi Bruce , great to see you taking questions here.
My question is regarding the unbanked.
We often hear the argument that bitcoin will engage the unbanked, yet I can't think of a single bitcoin foundation event that has been held or is planned to be held in Honduras ,Bangladesh or Ethiopia?
Most of the events are held in the rich parts of the world which understandably would drive more money into developing tools and technologies around bitcoin. Yet certain parts of the world are under-represented , if ever represented at all.
Are there any programs or plans in the near future to engage the unbanked?

wishing the bitcoin foundation the best of luck.

Thanks for the question. Ive done some work in the non-profit sector and looked a bit at the unbanked. I think its a huge opportunity. We'd love to do an event in any of those placed but we'd need someone to sponsor it and organize it.
Overall Bitcoin could be a great currency alternative and means of transfer for many people who are now unbanked. We need to look at two things first: if they can access phones, better yet, smart phones of some sort and second, what level of poverty or wealth we are targeting. Some people think that Bitcoin has the potential for example to change poverty structure in poor African countries. The very poor in the world dont have access to phones and they have much more pressing issues like malaria, clean water and having access to a toilet. The best market for Bitcoin for helping reduce poverty and helping the unbanked comes likely from second world, not third world countries - places like Pakistan which do have unbanbked people and poverty but also have wide access to smart phones and who dont have the same massive challenges that places like Senegal have.

[helloworld]

Hi Bruce,

what's your opinion about the conflict of interest created by Blockstream hiring most of the core devs?

What are the possible solution to avoid this kind of conflict of interest in the Bitcoin ecosystem?

Thanks

I answered a similar question above. I dont see Blockstream in a negative way -- without them we cant assume that the money to pay these devs would simply be paid by someone else....as so few efforts now work to pay for development.

What I'd love to see is continued open dialogue and transparency as well as many more developers sponsored by many more companies. It would be great if every company that has received $10-20 million or more would fund at least one full time or even part time core developer. Its not just good for Bitcoin, its good business as it gives the company expertise, reach and recognition.

This AMA was an eye opener. Bruce you seem to ignore a lot of things and trying too hard to be PC.

Blockstream's rule over Core development is an apparent conflict of interest, there is no justification to that.

I'm sad to see the level of misinformation in the heads of many bitcoin "public figures". :S