The Bitcoin Foundation has a new Executive Director: Jon Matonis is the chosen one

One of the biggest promoters of the Bitcoin cause, Jon Matonis, has just accepted to be the new Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation.

Before assuming this position, Jon Matonis served on the Board of Directors for the Bitcoin Foundation. Currently, he’s also the editor of The Monetary Future blog, a member of the Bitcoin Magazine Editorial Board and a regular contributor to Forbes.

But, most of all, he loves cryptocurrency! And he was one of the most active voices in the recent case of Californian financial authorities versus the Bitcoin Foundation.

In the past, he served as the CEO of Hushmail and Chief FX Dealer at Visa. Now, Jon Matonis will be replacing Peter Venesses, the former executive chief of the institution. We can’t still explain why this is happening, but we believe that the Bitcoin Foundation knows what it’s doing.

Here’s the public statement written by Peter Venesses, the former chairman, explaining the change:

Peter Vessenes    Jul 08 2013

I want to share some good news; we’re expanding.

As of today, Jon Matonis has accepted my offer to join us as Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation. He starts immediately, although he’ll take a few months to ramp up to full time.

This is a coup for the Foundation. I believe Jon’s work experience and passion for Bitcoin will combine into something awesome here. I’m excited!

Since we can’t have two Executive Directors, this means I’ll be giving up my ED title. Practically, this will have zero impact on my day-to-day with the Foundation; since we’ve launched, I’ve spent about one day a week in my senior leadership role at the Foundation, spending the other four on CoinLab’s paying work. I will continue to put in that time, but now I will be able to rely on Jon managing and growing the organization; this will allow me to do more of what I think I should be doing — strategizing, building relationships, fundraising and speaking.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Jon so far; he’s smart, often contrarian, and cares very much about our mission. I imagine we won’t always agree, but the last year has made for a productive beginning to a partnership, and I have a feeling the entire Bitcoin community will benefit from this hire. Welcome, Jon!

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the upcoming elections for our two additional board seats; there is still time to join and get the right to nominate someone for either an Industry seat or an Individual seat. We will be making announcements about the upcoming elections this week. We have seen some very strong candidates come forward for these seats, but what can I say? I’d like to see more, and I hope you’ll join us. I’m looking forward to welcoming more people to share the fun work of spreading out across the Globe.

Via bitcoinmagazine.com

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