2018-9-24 22:45 |
This has been a big year for cryptocurrency. In many ways, 2018 has been a variable crypto winter. The falling prices of both Bitcoin and its many altcoins created during the ICO boom of 2016 and 2017 have contributed to an overall sense of foreboding bearishness. But as the community continues to mature, the development of blockchain technology has not been similarly affected by Bitcoin’s stark decline in price. To put things simply, blockchain and Bitcoin developmental conferences have been fruitful in 2018, and their effects are palpable.
Perhaps the most resounding result of 2018 for the blockchain community has been the insatiable merger of traditional economics with philanthropy. Blockchain startups have begun to create public service and philanthropic organizations that use the financial technology as the backdrop for a world-changing set of innovations. As this sector is relatively new, it should come as no surprise that companies and foundations seeking to change the nature of blockchain charity continue to best one another in the race for innovation.
In the latest example of this competition, the massive Baltic Honey Badger Bitcoin Conference 2018 saw an announcement of a brand-new foundation co-founded by Satoshi Labs’ Alex Vranova and the Tezor organization. The foundation is poised to be what they call a mix of “charitable and commercial” efforts that will specialize in Bitcoin adoption research and study.
The B FoundationThe foundation will be primarily focused on contributing to the research and development of Bitcoin adoption methods and campaigns. On a technical level, the system is being planned as an alternative to the Ethereum Foundation, an ETH organization which attempts to expand the reach and contribute to the research of Ethereum and its network. A similar setup for Bitcoin seems to be the goal of the B Foundation, which will be headed by some of the brightest minds in the world of blockchain.
In an official statement on the issue, Alex Vranova elaborated on her belief in the project, saying that the centralized efforts of the organization are going to be “much more effective” than disjointed, decentralized adoption efforts and research campaigns. From her perspective, the long-term development of Bitcoin would be aided greatly by the work of centralized foundations, contributors, and developers.
Immediate ControversyAlmost unsurprisingly in the fickle world of the crypto space, the announcement was met with jeers from many within the community almost instantaneously. Specifically, Twitter critics pointed to the failures of the original Bitcoin Foundation and the general ideological flaws of centralization in the crypto space as two main reasons to disagree.
Even a board member on the original Bitcoin Foundation, Olivier Janssens, spoke out on the issue. In a tweet, he called it “appalling” that some people were defending the new foundation. He recommended that the only way to viably have progress in projects in the Bitcoin community would be to create spaces for separate issues. He concluded his critique by saying that giving all of these tasks to a single organization is a “terrible idea.”
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