The Bitcoin Foundation will soon run out of funds, the foundation’s board was told at a meeting on 20th October.
The meeting’s minutes , published yesterday, show that board chairman Brock Pierce opened the event with the declaration that the Foundation is "close to running out of money".
Further disclosures during the meeting show that it is struggling to generate significant revenue. Its last event, the third instalment of its DevCore workshops series held in San Mateo, California on 16th October, earned just $2,000 in sponsorship fees.
The foundation has embarked on cost-cutting measures to staunch the flow of cash. September board meeting minutes show that it was spending "5 to 10%" of the "previous budget". The foundation was spending $150,000 a month as recently as last May, according to minutes released at the time. It was operating with a different board and staff led by then executive director Jon Matonis at the time. Burn rates and runway
Current foundation spending would stand at $7,500 a month, based on 5% of a $150,000 monthly budget. The foundation had a balance of $59,000, according to minutes from the July board meeting. Based on these estimates, the foundation has funds until next March.
Foundation executive director Bruce Fenton said at the October meeting: "We need to do serious fundraising … Revenue is key, we can’t do much more to cut expenses." The foundation currently employs two part-time staff. Fenton runs the organisation as a volunteer. The board pinned much of the expenditure on commitments made by the previous regime. This included vendor invoices, past employee expenses, paid vacation expenses and legal bills.
A new board was elected in March amid drama. Candidates complained about an overhaul of the voting system , poor voter outreach and allegations that the organisation was bankrupt .
Disputes over unsettled payments were […]
