Jim Harper: 2015 Will Rebuild the Bitcoin Foundation

“Campaigns tend be about high drama and broad statements of principle.”
That’s Jim Harper, the Bitcoin Foundation’s newly elected board member and former global policy council, discussing the recent election in which he and Olivier Janssens triumphed amid controversies over voter turnout and cries that the organisation should be disbanded.
Harper is keen to move the Bitcoin Foundation on to more practical concerns when he joins the seven-person board that will include BTC China CEO Bobby Lee; Ribbit Capital‘s Meyer ‘Micky’ Malka; venture capitalist Brock Pierce; BitPay’s Elizabeth Ploshay; Janssens; and soon, a member to be elected to a new international seat.
During a wide-ranging interview with CoinDesk, he explained how he was let go from the organisation in December amidst the foundation’s shift in focus to core development, adding:
“People have left good jobs to come to the foundation, people have moved to London to join the foundation, and the foundation didn’t keep them on. As with a bitcoin business, this thing has to be well run so it doesn’t do damage.”
Harper indicated he has yet to see the organisation’s financials, but that he believes it needs to first stabilize in order to ensure a strong, committed team.
“I think it’s going to be a rebuilding year for the Bitcoin Foundation,” he said.

This post was published at Coin Desk on March 6, 2015.