There have been controversies over the membership in the board where some members
of the Bitcoin Foundation board have gotten into trouble.
They've gotten into criminal trouble or they've gotten into financial trouble and
the foundation has had to struggle with dealing with what to do about members of
the board that become liabilities and have to be replaced on short notice.
There's been some controversy from those people who believe that BitCoin should
operate outside of and apart from traditional national governments.
That Bitcoin shouldn't be in the position of negotiating with the government.
Bitcoin should be what it is,
be independent of government and simply operate across borders.
Not having to explain or justify itself to government at all.
People who believe in that point of view don't like the fact that there are people
in suits who hand out business cards saying Bitcoin on them and
talk to government as the voice of Bitcoin.
Finally there have been controversies over the Bitcoin Foundation in the question
of who put these people in charge.
There are members of the community who feel that the foundation, and
the people who set up the foundation, aren't really true
representatives of the community, and that they are anointing themselves
as leaders of something that they have no right to put themselves in charge of.
So, although the Bitcoin Foundation is prominent,
there are still some questions about what it's role is going to be in the long run.
I think it's fair to conclude that the Bitcoin Foundation in its dealings with
government, has done a fair amount to smooth the road for understanding of and
acceptance of Bitcoin, at least within the US government.
But still the foundation continues to be a somewhat controversial organization and
one that's going to be the topic of debate going forward.
So when we come down to the question of who's really in charge of Bitcoin,
who's in control, the answer is, in one way, nobody.
That there is no one entity, no one group that's definitively in control.
In another sense, the answer is everybody,
because it's really the existence of this consensus about how the system will
operate, the three interlocking forms of consensus on rules,
on history and on value, that really is what governs Bitcoin.
In any group, any rule set, any structure that can retain that
consensus will in a very real sense be in charge of Bitcoin.