Adam B. Levine (Let’s Talk Bitcoin): Please introduce yourself and give a brief overview of what you hope to accomplish with your candidacy.
Joerg Platzer: My name is Joerg Platzer, I am a founding member of the Crypto Economics Consulting Group in Berlin which aims to smooth our societys transition to a crypto economy and to roll out Bitcoin in the real world and I run Room77,the first bricks and mortar business in the world that accepted Bitcoin and which is nowadays a meeting point for Bitcoiners, Cypherpunks and Cryptonerds from all over Europe and even the world.
I am financially independent and politically neutral. I am running for a seat on the board of the Foundation because I would like to make sure that the Foundation is an organisation that supports and fosters the whole global Bitcoin-economy, not merely a Silicon Valley Bitcoin Business Club. I believe the decision which way to go is being made now and probably with these elections.
LTB: Why do you want to serve on the Foundation Board?
JP: Because I see the rise of a society based on crypto economics as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take part in shaping an entirely new system that has the potential to change a lot of things in our society for the better. Crypto currency is the central drumbeat of digitalisation and may well be a trigger for a new economic singularity. This is more exciting than anything else I have seen in my life and more fascinating than any paid job one could ever get. I cannot imagine a better field to devote all my creativity and productivity to.
LTB: What makes you qualified for the position?
JP: I have a deep understanding of crypto technology, business mechanisms in general and politics. Furthermore I have a 25 years background in hacktivism and civil rights projects and 20 years of experience in strategic corporate communications. So I can bring expertise and competencies to the board that are just not there right now. Also, I am capable of envisioning the impact of new technologies and to extrapolate their future development. But most importantly: my heart beats for the rise of a crypto economic society. That is my utmost first priority, not my business, not my career and no political agenda but the creation of a more free, transparent and just society based on crypto.
LTB: Do you believe there is a right and wrong way to use a Bitcoin?
JP: Morally speaking: money doesnt stink, as a German saying goes. There are right and wrong things one can do but if they involve money it doesnt matter if that money is made of paper, precious metals or cryptographic key pairs. Technically speaking: yes, there are precisely three wrong ways to use a Bitcoin: to not have it backed up, to not have it encrypted or to store it on someone elses server.
LTB: What are your views on Bitcoins software development?
JP: In regards of the direction of future software development I would like to see a few issues prioritised. The whole community agrees that decentralised exchange is one of the most important goals we need to reach. It is clear that the majority of the current board of directors of the Foundation does not really have any interest in putting energy and resources into that because that would drive a significant amount of business away from them. Enhanced anonymity through technologies like zero coin or decentralised or trustless mixing is as important as the securing of fungibility, so all coins are being treated the same. I would also like to encourage alternative implementations of the protocol like libbitcoin.
LTB: Do you have plans to work with the Bitcoin Community, if so how will you deal with the diversity of opinion?
JP: I welcome diversity of opinion as I welcome diversity in every field and I believe we should foster diversity of opinion especially when we enter a new era like we are about to. I fully respect other peoples opinions as long as they dont interfere with third partys rights and I try to learn from them rather than ignore or negate them. As a discordian my only firm belief is that it is wrong to have firm beliefs. Incidentally, the lack of diversity of opinions on the current board of the Foundation is one of the reasons why Im running for one of their seats.
LTB: Should the Foundation hire a lobbyist? If yes, why and where should they lobby?
JP: Clearly no. It is not important to go out and seek the approval of the legacy financial system and its regulators as crypto currency will most likely render them more or less unimportant in the long run anyways. Lobbying for Bitcoin with financial regulators makes as much sense as if Gutenberg would have lobbied for the printing press with the pope. Crypto currency will regulate the regulators. What we urgently need to do is consult and educate governments in regards to how they could participate in moderating the transition to a crypto economic society so that this transition will be as smooth as possible. That future can be bright but we will see a lot of collateral damage and victims along the way. It is the governments duty to do everything they can do to reduce that collateral damage and help making the way as little painful for society as possible. The sooner they understand that the better and I was never as willing to help a government as I am in this case.
LTB: If you had to change one thing about the Bitcoin Foundation, what would it be and why?
JP: Internationalise it and take its center out of the United States. The USA is an absurdly over-regulated economy with a regime that is trying to abolish privacy in all aspects of peoples lives around the globe and thus the most hostile environment for Bitcoin on this planet. We really need to spread around the world and find more innovation-friendly and more privacy-friendly jurisdictions to cater to the decentralised nature of the decentralised system. This way and only this way we can come to a point where governments from different jurisdictions have to compete with each other and will send lobbyists to the Bitcoin community to make themselves more attractive to this huge emerging market and the people and businesses that develop it.
If you have enjoyed this interview, you can find the other candidates interviews here: