Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced the creation of a non-profit foundation aimed at protecting Bitcoin developers from legal harassment. The fund's first case will be the case of law firm ONTIER LLP, which has filed a lawsuit against Bitcoin developer Craig Wright on behalf of Tulip Trading Limited.
Dorsey has said he has decided to defend an open community of developers "particularly vulnerable to legal pressure:"
"The non-profit fund represents a formal and coordinated approach. Its purpose is to defend developers of all Bitcoin-related projects."
Dorsey has highlighted the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization aimed at helping developers with issues related to and potentially distracting from Bitcoin work. The foundation will provide lawyers, develop defense strategies and cover legal costs.
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The foundation will initially be supported by volunteers and lawyers, and the foundation's board will be responsible for allocating resources. In addition to Dorsey, the board includes Chaincode Labs co-founder Alex Morcos and scientist Martin White. So far, the fund does not raise external funding, but if necessary, it could do so at a later date.
The High Court in London has previously allowed ONTIER LLP to commence the process of serving legal proceedings on 16 Bitcoin developers on behalf of Tulip Trading Limited (TTL), a Seychelles company whose primary beneficial owner is Dr Craig Wright. Wright also claims the authorship of the Bitcoin white paper and is demanding that it be removed from sites where it is available due to copyright infringement.