Dallas, Texas — January 25, 2022 — The Texas Bitcoin Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, has launched to fund and disseminate interdisciplinary research and education about the social and economic impacts of Bitcoin.
The Texas Bitcoin Foundation is nonpartisan and does not engage in political advocacy or support political candidates. Rather, it focuses on building a shared record of buildable knowledge in history, political theory, the social sciences, computer science, and other disciplines.
The Foundation will partner with educational institutions, think tanks, research labs, and independent scholars to fund an evolving program of research touching on the future of human civilization.
The Foundation will also ensure that new generations of Texans have their choice of educational and career pathways to further build out the Bitcoin ecosystem and generate economic opportunity for Texas. A key pillar of that objective is supporting a robust Bitcoin open-source developer community in Texas and beyond.
The Founding Board of the Texas Bitcoin Foundation includes Natalie Smolenski, Chairman of the Board of the Texas Blockchain Council; Lee Bratcher, Founder and President of the Texas Blockchain Council; Joseph Kelly, Co-founder and CEO of Unchained Capital; Tuur Demeester, Founder of Adamant Capital; Avik Roy, Founder and President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP); and Dan Hughes, Founder of Learning Machine.
Natalie Smolenski, Founder and Executive Director of the Texas Bitcoin Foundation, explained the rationale behind its creation:
“The global adoption of Nakamoto consensus (Proof of Work) has profound implications for the future of capitalism, the nation-state, democratic governance, next-generation energy generation and distribution, financial inclusion, and many other social issues. In order to ensure that our responses to Bitcoin as a society generate human flourishing, these larger questions must be addressed in a rigorous, scientific way.”
Tuur Demeester, a leading theorist of Bitcoin-informed political economy, added:
“Texas is the Friendship State, and at the same time its people are fiercely proud of personal liberty (“Come and take it!”). I see the same promise of both inclusivity and self-sovereignty in Bitcoin, and for that reason I’m excited to be a part of the Texas Bitcoin Foundation, where we’ll pursue long-term oriented education and research.”
“I’m delighted to join the board of the Texas Bitcoin Foundation,” said Avik Roy, President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP.org). “FREOPP’s mission is to expand economic opportunity to those who least have it. Bitcoin has the potential to improve the lives of all Texans by attracting innovative entrepreneurs to our state, by growing the number of high-paying blue-collar jobs, and by ensuring that Texans’ hard-earned savings preserve their value over time.”
To learn more about the Texas Bitcoin Foundation and donate to support its initiatives, visit www.txbitcoinfoundation.org.