The Two-Bit Idiot is a nickname of an entrepreneur and former VC, who calls himself also a truth-teller. This characteristic is going to be crucial for the remaining members of the Bitcoin Foundation board.
Some time ago he has already leaked some information on the possible collapse of Mt.Gox just before it has initially happened. As Mark Karpeles and even Charlie Shrem sometime before have resigned from the positions at the board, the attacks are directed towards Jon Matonis and Peter Vessenes.
The activist has published an open letter to both men on his blog on Tumblr. He declares a war on Matonis and Vessenes stating that they also have to resign due to their passiveness and incompetence. The Two-Bit Idiot believes that they could protect the society and the users from the loss of funds at the Japanese trading platform or at least actively participate in the search for solutions.
After his words:
“Truly good and professional executives have been caught between a rock and a hard place: Vessenes and Matonis are obstinate individuals who will be hard to force from their positions, and a public battle will cause additional media backlash for Bitcoin, which will hurt these executives’ businesses.”
The truth-teller pays credit for work done on the daybreak of the Bitcoin, but proves the leader fizzled out now.
The Plan of Two-Bit Idiot
The accusations are not as plain and vague as the introduction. Further in the text he sums up the faults of Matonis and Vessenes. The Coin telegraph decided to publish the list without alterations as it is given in the original text:
1) The Foundation never once warned Bitcoin investors about keeping deposits in Mt. Gox, despite clear red flags dating back to at least April 2013. Nor did the Foundation craft or advocate for best practices such as technical transparency, deposit audits, or appropriate consumer protection disclosures. This was a colossal failure of leadership.
2) There is evidence that Bitcoin Foundation board members may have had direct access to Mark Karpeles which allowed them to personally deposit and withdraw funds from Mt. Gox, despite persistent delays for other customers.
3) There is a troubling and inappropriate overlap between Peter Vessenes’ staff at his private company, CoinLab, and the Bitcoin Foundation’s staff, which goes far beyond shared office space.
4) The current leadership has shown a stunning disregard for proper communications with its members. The importance of immediate resignations (rather than gradual) is highlighted by the Board’s secret plans to move the Foundation’s headquarters to London without input from members and sponsors.
5) Peter Vessenes has had a nine month conflict of interest regarding Mt. Gox given that his company CoinLab was involved in an active multi-million dollar lawsuit against Mark Karpeles and Mt. Gox, following a failed partnership. Both men remained on the board of directors, and the Foundation failed to draft adequate by-laws that would allow them to address situations such as this where directors had material conflicts, which would compromise their ability to act in the best interests of its members.
The Two-Bit Idiot promises to attack severely and to publish more data that will definitely harm both officials of the Bitcoin foundation and turn the existing situation. He asks for:
“By Monday, I expect that either: a) Vessenes and Matonis resign gracefully from the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, and announce that their terms will end on an accelerated schedule which coincides with the already scheduled elections in April, or b) the corporate sponsors of the Foundation publicly distance themselves from the organization and clarify that the Bitcoin Foundation no longer represents the true interests of its members.”
Otherwise:
“Otherwise, by Monday at 3pm ET / 12pm PT, I will post my full expose of the unprofessionalism and negligence of the Bitcoin Foundation. (If I get hit by a bus this weekend, my lawyers will release it.)”
The next step is the population of information on sources accessible by the whole humankind - Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Verge, Forbes, the Associated Press and many more.
However, the Two-Bit Idiot hopes that some prudence is left and Jon Matonis and Peter Vessenes will understand how serious the situation is.
Cointelegraph hopes that the Two-Bit Idiot is feeling well, has not been attacked by buses or anyone else, and we are going to monitor the situation as the given 72 hours are ending very soon, but the Bitcoin Foundation remains silent.
Links:
Cointelegraph article on Mark Karpeles
Cointelegraph article on Charlie Shrem
The board of Bitcoin Foundation - Jon Matonis and Peter Vessenes
- The original letter of Two-Bit Idiot on Tumblr