Jack Dorsey is Planning a Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund

Block’s current CEO and Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, has announced plans to launch a Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund.

Dorsey Reveals Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund Plan

However, the billionaire won’t be doing it alone. He’s working alongside Chaincode Labs co-founder Alex Moros and University of Sussex academic Martin White. Together, the three would form the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund Board.

Dorsey announced the fund in an email addressed to Bitcoin developers sent in the early hours of January 12. In the email, he also stated why the fund is necessary at this moment, pointing out that the open-source community is vulnerable to legal pressure.

In such an environment, the non-profit fund represents a formal and coordinated approach. Its purpose is to defend developers of all Bitcoin-related projects. 

It’ll assist them in any legal disputes or issues that might interrupt their work.

Defense Fund to Focus on Assisting Bitcoin Developers

The first point of business for the fund will be assisting several Bitcoin developers in Craig Wright‘s Tulip Trading Limited lawsuit accusing the developers of breach of fiduciary duty. The matter related to the Mt. Gox Exchange hack has been in court for now as parties contest ownership of funds.

Beyond covering legal bills, the fund will also assist with appointing defense attorneys and determining the right strategies. It will start with a staff of volunteers and part-time lawyers while the board will be responsible for allocating resources. Services will be free and voluntary for developers working on Bitcoin-related projects.

According to Dorsey, the fund isn’t looking to raise money for its operations. But it may do so later in the future based on the board’s directions if there’s a need for it to cover a legal bill or pay staff.

With the likelihood of more regulatory and legal pressure on Bitcoin in the nearest future, a legal defense fund appears to be a step in the right direction to protect the crypto project and those working to improve it.

Such a move might set a standard for other open-source networks to follow to survive any regulatory pressure on crypto.

Bitcoin continues to trade around $42,000 after dropping below $43k on January 6. The flagship asset, which has lost 8.52% of its value in 7 days, appears to find stability at the moment. In the last 24 hours, it has increased by over 1%.