Former Twitter CEO and founder Jack Dorsey has announced plans to set up a Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund with Chaincode Labs co-founders Alex Morcos and Martin White, who appear to be a academic at the University of Sussex.
the Notice was posted to a bitcoin developer mailing list, bitcoin-dev, on January 12 at 12:13:45 UTC from an email address that appears to be Dorsey.
Cointelegraph reached out to board members to confirm the legitimacy of the email but did not receive an immediate response.
The announcement said the fund will provide legal defense to Bitcoin developers who are “currently the subject of multifront litigation”.
an email to the Bitcoin developer mailing list from @Jack Statement by the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund pic.twitter.com/y1XY3XG0IR
– Zack Voell (@zackvoell) January 12, 2022
“Litigation and ongoing threats are having their intended effects; individual defendants have chosen to surrender without legal support, ”reads the email, which refers to open source developers who are often independent and therefore subject to legal pressure.
“We propose a coordinated and formalized response to defend developers.”
In the announcement, the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund was described as a “nonprofit entity that aims to minimize legal headaches that keep software developers from actively developing Bitcoin and related projects.”
“The main purpose of this fund is to protect developers from lawsuits related to their activities in the Bitcoin ecosystem, including finding and retaining defense attorneys, developing a litigation strategy, and paying legal fees,” it reads.
Initially, the fund will include volunteers and part-time attorneys who developers “can take advantage of if they so choose,” although the email also stated that “the fund’s board of directors will be responsible for determining what lawsuits and defendants to bring will support “. defend.”
“Currently the Fund is not attempting to raise additional money for its operations but will do so on the direction of the Board of Directors should it be necessary for further legal action or the payment of staff.”
According to the email, the fund’s first project is to take over the existing defense of Ramona Angs “Tulip Trading lawsuit” against developers, including Ira Kleiman, for alleged misconduct in accessing BTC assets.
Related: Nano Foundation sponsors legal funds to provide representation for BitGrail hack victims
Dorseywho resigned as Twitter CEO The end of November 2021 is a long time Bitcoin advocate. It remains unclear whether Dorsey left the social media company to focus on Square’s plans to develop a decentralized bitcoin exchange.
On November 19, the decentralized exchange project called tbDEX published a white paper details his plans to create a message log to facilitate trust relationships without relying on a federation to control access.
