Jack Dorsey, the founder and former CEO of social media platform Twitter, recently revealed his plans to form a “Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund” with Alex Morcos, a co-founder for Chaincode Labs, and Martin White, an academic at the University of Sussex.
The announcement was sent on bitcoin-dev, a mailing list dedicated to Bitcoin developers, on January 12 at 00:13:45 UTC. Notably, the email address that sent the message appeared to belong to none other than Dorsey.
Cointelegraph reached out to the board members to confirm whether the email was legitimate. However, they didn’t receive a response right away. According to the announcement, the Fund will offer legal defense to Bitcoin developers who are in the middle of multi-front litigation.
The announcement continues by describing what exactly the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund is, saying it’s a non-profit entity that strives to lessen as many legal headaches as possible, which can “discourage software developers from actively developing Bitcoin and related projects.”
an email to the bitcoin dev mailing list from @jack explaining the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund pic.twitter.com/y1XY3XG0IR
— Zack Voell (@zackvoell) January 12, 2022
The Fund’s primary purpose is to defend developers from legal cases regarding their activities within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Developers can expect assistance in various ways, including “finding and retaining defense counsel, developing litigation strategy, and paying legal bills.”
The Fund will consist of volunteers and part-time lawyers that the developers can use whenever they need. However, the email also notes that the Fund’s board “will be responsible for determining which lawsuits and defendants it will help defend.”
The email also mentions that the Fund’s first project is to take over Ramona Ang’s “Tulip Trading Lawsuit” against developers, including Ira Kleiman, for alleged transgressions regarding a BTC fortune.
Dorsey has been one of Bitcoin’s proponents for quite a long time now. Stepping down from his role as Twitter CEO back in November 2021, it remains to be seen if the Twitter founder left the company to focus on Square’s plans to create a decentralized Bitcoin exchange.
