Re: Digital Currency Initiative
[{"sender": "jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com]", "recipients": ["Joichi Ito"], "timestamp": "4/25/2015 5:06:32 PM", "subject": "Re: Digital Currency Initiative", "body": "gavin is clever"}, {"sender": "Joichi Ito", "recipients": [], "timestamp": "Sat, Apr 25, 2015 at 10:57 AM", "subject": "Re: Digital Currency Initiative", "body": "FYI\n\nUsed gift funds to underwrite this which allowed us to move quickly and win this round. Thanks.\n- Joi"}, {"sender": "Joi Ito", "recipients": [], "timestamp": "April 25, 2015 at 10:25:09 AM EDT", "subject": "Digital Currency Initiative", "body": "As Bitcoin and Digital Currencies have started to become an important trend, the Media Lab has launched an initiative in the space.\n\nI wrote a blog post on why I think Blockchain/Bitcoin are like the Internet: http://jo1.ito.com/weblog/2015/01/23/why-bitcoin-is-.html\n\nThe way that Bitcoin is organized currently is that there are five core developers and around a hundred contributors to the core code. The five core developers are like Linus Torvalds of Linux. They decide what changes are made to the core code. One of the five is the lead developer, Wladimir, and one is the Chief Scientist, Gavin.\n\nGavin, Wladimir and Cory (an important contributing developer) were being paid out of a non-profit organization called the Bitcoin Foundation. A few weeks ago, it “blew up” when one of the board members declared the foundation “bankrupt”. ( https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/1284-the-truth-about-the-bitcoin-foundation/ ) Many organizations scrambled to step into the vacuum created by the foundation and “take control” of the developers. We moved quickly talking to all of the various stakeholders and the three developers decided to join the Media Lab. This is a big win for us.\n\nAccording to the WSJ Blog:\n\nhttp://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/04/24/bitbeat-tackling-bitcoin-price-swings-with-eye-on-emerging-markets/"}]