Jack Dorsey announces Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund

Former Twitter CEO and laminitis Jack Dorsey has announced plans to make a “Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund” with Chaincode Labs co-founder Alex Morcos and Martin White, who appears to beryllium an academic astatine the University of Sussex.

The announcement was sent connected a mailing database for Bitcoin developers, bitcoin-dev, astatine 00:13:45 UTC connected Jan. 12 from an email code appearing to beryllium to Dorsey.

Cointelegraph reached retired to the committee members to corroborate the email’s legitimacy but did not instantly person a response.

The announcement stated the money volition assistance supply a ineligible defence for Bitcoin developers, who are “currently the taxable of multi-front litigation.”

an email to the bitcoin dev mailing database from @jack explaining the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund pic.twitter.com/y1XY3XG0IR

— Zack Voell (@zackvoell) January 12, 2022

“Litigation and continued threats are having their intended effect; idiosyncratic defendants person chosen to capitulate successful the lack of ineligible support,” the email stated, referencing open-source developers who are often autarkic and truthful susceptible to ineligible pressure.

“We suggest a coordinated and formalized effect to assistance support developers.”

The announcement went connected to picture the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund arsenic a “nonprofit entity that aims to minimize ineligible headaches that discourage bundle developers from actively processing Bitcoin and related projects.”

“The main intent of this Fund is to support developers from lawsuits regarding their activities successful the Bitcoin ecosystem, including uncovering and retaining defence counsel, processing litigation strategy, and paying ineligible bills,” it stated.

Initially, the money volition see volunteers and part-time lawyers for developers to “take vantage of if they truthful wish,” although, the email besides states that “the committee of the Fund volition beryllium liable for determining which lawsuits and defendants it volition assistance defend.”

“At this time, the Fund is not seeking to rise further wealth for its operations but volition bash truthful astatine the absorption of the committee if needed for further ineligible enactment oregon to wage for staff.”

According to the email, the fund’s archetypal task volition beryllium to instrumentality implicit the existing defence of Ramona Ang’s “Tulip Trading Lawsuit” against developers including Ira Kleiman for alleged misconduct implicit entree to a BTC fortune.

Related: Nano Foundation Sponsors Legal Fund To Provide BitGrail Hack Victims With Representation

Dorsey, who stepped down arsenic Twitter CEO astatine the extremity of Nov 2021, is simply a long-time proponent of Bitcoin. It remains unclear whether Dorsey near the societal media steadfast to absorption connected Square’s plans to make a decentralized Bitcoin exchange.

On Nov. 19, the decentralized speech task called tbDEX released a achromatic paper detailing its plans to make a connection protocol designed to facilitate spot relationships without relying connected a federation to power access.