Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund

From: Alex Schoof <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2022 13:54:35 -0500

> I also don't see why Alex or anyone should be denied the opportunity to
comment on future soft forks or anything about bitcoin. Alex should have no
more or less right to participate and his comments should be judged on
their merit, just like yours and mine.

I think the concern is something like: "I disagree with a board member of
the defense fund about [insert contentious issue]. If I disagree with them
publicly (especially if there are clear economic implications in that
disagreement), am I putting myself at risk in the future where I won't be
able to get support from the fund because I spoke out against a board
member?" That kind of concern can be mitigated through policy and
governance, but is the kind of thing you want to tackle before it becomes
an issue.

Cheers,

(a different) Alex

On Thu, Jan 13, 2022 at 1:49 PM Steve Lee via bitcoin-dev <
[email-masked]> wrote:

> I think the word "The" is important. The title of the email and the name
> of the fund is Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund. It is "a" legal defense fund;
> not THE Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund. There is room for other funds and
> strategies and anyone is welcome to create alternatives.
>
> I also don't see why Alex or anyone should be denied the opportunity to
> comment on future soft forks or anything about bitcoin. Alex should have no
> more or less right to participate and his comments should be judged on
> their merit, just like yours and mine.
>
> On Thu, Jan 13, 2022 at 9:37 AM Prayank via bitcoin-dev <
> [email-masked]> wrote:
>
>> Hi Jack,
>>
>>
>> > The main purpose of this Fund is to defend developers from lawsuits
>> regarding their activities in the Bitcoin ecosystem, including finding and
>> retaining defense counsel, developing litigation strategy, and paying legal
>> bills. This is a free and voluntary option for developers to take advantage
>> of if they so wish. The Fund will start with a corps of volunteer and
>> part-time lawyers. The board of the Fund will be responsible for
>> determining which lawsuits and defendants it will help defend.
>>
>> Thanks for helping the developers in legal issues. Appreciate your
>> efforts and I understand your intentions are to help Bitcoin in every
>> possible way.
>>
>>
>> Positives that I see in this initiative:
>>
>> 1.Developers don't need to worry about rich scammers and can focus on
>> development.
>>
>> 2.Financial help for developers as legal issues can end up in wasting lot
>> of time and money.
>>
>> 3.People who have misused courts to affect bitcoin developers will get
>> better response that they deserve.
>>
>>
>> I had few suggestions and feel free to ignore them if they do not make
>> sense:
>>
>> 1.Name of this fund could be anything and 'The Bitcoin Legal Defense
>> Fund' can be confusing or misleading for newbies. There is nothing official
>> in Bitcoin however people believe things written in news articles and some
>> of them might consider it as an official bitcoin legal fund.
>>
>> 2.It would be better if people involved in such important funds do not
>> comment/influence soft fork related discussions. Example: Alex Morcos had
>> some opinions about activation mechanism during Taproot soft fork IIRC.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Prayank
>>
>> A3B1 E430 2298 178F
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>>
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-- 

Alex Schoof