At least 10 members of the nonprofit Bitcoin Foundation have resigned over last week's election of onetime Disney child star and current Bitcoin entrepreneur and financier Brock Pierce as a new director, officials at the group said.
Some of the members cited Pierce's troubled past. That includes allegations in lawsuits from three employees of Pierce's first company, bankrupt web video business Digital Entertainment Network, that he provided drugs and pressured them for sex when they were minors.
Pierce has denied the accusations, which first surfaced in 2000.
"The allegations against me are not true, and I have never had intimate or sexual contact with any of the people who made those allegations," Pierce told Reuters via email.
Court records show 33-year-old Pierce, who played the title role in Disney's "First Kid," paid more than $21,000 to settle one employee suit, and he said others dropped their claims without money changing hands.
While Bitcoin Foundation officials played down the defections, several members who resigned from the Foundation assailed its governance track record.
"The track record of prominent Bitcoin Foundation members has been abysmal," said Patrick Alexander, a resigning Foundation member in a post on its discussion pages. "I no longer want to be associated with these people." Attempts to reach him for additional comment were unsuccessful.
On a side note, I hear Jeff Tucker is considering becoming the "spokesman for Bitcoin," if Liberty.me investors do not cough up more money to fund the web site. The web site has a huge payroll, from what I understand, that includes 10 full-time employees and many more who are receiving paychecks for part-time and consulting work. With his libwap positioning of Liberty.me, subscribers to the site are far below expectations.
I don't understand whats supposed to be so special about Liberty.me anyway. I realize its purpose is to be a social network specifically intended to attract liberty-minded people from across the planet. Well, ok. But what is there at this new "online city", as Jeffery Tucker has described it in Liberty.me newsletter emails I've received, that cannot already be found elsewhere, albeit in a perhaps less organized format?
ReplyDeleteI'm open to being convinced its something revolutionary beyond just being a liberty-oriented social network, if anyone can provide me the evidence.
It's essentially a bloated blogging platform with Reddit-like voting capabilities. If Reddit is any indication, I fully expect the crap to rise to the top while the truth goes relatively unnoticed (I don't think liberty.me allows downvoting articles, but I could be wrong). And I noticed I'm getting all kinds of friend requests from people who supposedly work for the site. Meh.
DeleteTucker is talking with nro-con Glann Beck on bitcoin tonight. Can't wait . . . I think he's inviting Greenspan and Bernanke next week on responsible Libertarian monetary policy. Then Condoleeza Rice on foriegn policy.
ReplyDeleteYou would think Beck would have one of his sponsors, "Goldline", on for a discussion on "responsible Libertarian monetary policy".
DeleteGold, stocks, or bonds . . . You ever heard a broker say don't give me your money?
Delete