The Bitcoin Foundation, represents an interesting, American, non-profit organization that has been formed in order to promote the use of bitcoin in areas from all around the world, but also to come up with solutions meant improve the currency, and its future.
Recent reports indicate that not long ago, the Bitcoin Foundation has announced that the organization refuses to join a strategic partnership with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Immigration Department.
The reasons behind the decision are quite intriguing. To put things better into perspective, the Bitcoin Foundation’s board of directors have managed to reach the decision, after discussing the risks and rewards associated with entering the partnership. The conclusion was that the partnership with the US Law Enforcement Agencies would bring in a great deal of risks, and not bring any reward whatsoever. Based on this, Bruce Fenton of the Foundation, has stated that: “Since enforcement agencies have no say in what laws are made or how or even how they are enforced, they have no power whatsoever to reduce regulatory burdens in our industry”.
Together with this, he also believes that the agencies don’t have any PR influence at this moment in time. Based on this, if they were to begin engaging in PR for the cryptocurrency, their influence in this niche would not bring them any benefits, in the fight against bitcoin criminality. Together with this, it’s also worth keeping in mind the fact that these agencies don’t have a good reputation with the public, considering the fact that the NSA has been accused of not respecting the right to private life of people from all around the United States. Additionally, according to Bruce, other U.S. law enforcement agencies such as the FBI have been in various scandals, and operate with a high level of bureaucracy.
The announcement follows up the recent announcement of the Blockchain Alliance, when a wide variety of leading bitcoin start-ups have formed a partnership, meant to create the Alliance, which aims to help bitcoin start-ups, but also discuss regulatory policies alongside with legal matters that concern digital currencies with state institutions and banks. The Alliance also partnered up with a couple of government agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Homeland Security department. By doing so, the bitcoin firms and the agencies can help each other with technical assistance, meant to help bitcoin thrive, while also dealing with regulatory issues, and lowering the risk of bitcoin criminality.
Regardless of this, Bruce Fenton proceeded to point out that these organizations are not only inefficient when dealing with bitcoin, but that they also do not have a proper understanding of it, due to the ignorance towards the technology that they have reportedly showcased.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, the Bitcoin Foundation is worried that the partnership will likely have a negative outcome for the future of cryptocurrencies, which is why he was against a partnership between the Foundation and the government agencies.
What do you personally think about the decision and the Blockchain Alliance? Let us know your thoughts.