Bitcoin Founding Fathers - Let's list the top 56 people who helped bitcoin succeed.
293 sats \ 1000 boost \ 24 comments \ @uco 5 Jul 2022 bitcoin
After watching several documentaries over the past weekend about the founding fathers of the United States, I realized we need a list of Bitcoin Founding Fathers. Without these courageous souls we'd be left to live in a fiat only world.
Help add to the list to create the top 56 Bitcoin Found Fathers.
I'll get the list started:
  • Satoshi Nakamoto
  • Hal Finney
  • Andreas Antonopoulos
  • Adam Back
  • Wei Dai
  • Gavin Andresen
  • Gavin Wood
  • Nick Szabo
  • Jeff Garzik
  • Charlie Shrem
  • Erik Voorhees
  • Anthony Di lorio
  • Saifedean Ammous
  • Charlie Lee
  • Brian Armstrong
  • Jesse Powell
  • Mark Karpelès
  • Ross Ulbricht
Some of the names above might be contentious but founding fathers aren't perfect. They enable the next generation to improve on their failings. Mark Karpeles is a prime example. Failed completely at security and running a trustworthy exchange but he did enable thousands of people to be introduced to using bitcoin.
I also propose to define the "founding fathers" as large influencers that helped bitcoin grow in the first 5 years (2009-2014).
Thanks for adding to the list!
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13 sats \ 0 replies \ @uco OP 5 Jul 2022
how could i forget!
  • Laszlo Hanyecz
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105 sats \ 1 reply \ @note_bene 6 Jul 2022
  • tadge dryja
  • vitalik buterin
  • brian armstrong
  • balaji
  • jimmy song
  • gavin andersen
  • peter wiulle
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @uco OP 6 Jul 2022
Excellent list!!
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101 sats \ 7 replies \ @Modus 6 Jul 2022
Luke-jr maybe? David Chaum Whit Diffie maybe? Bram Cohen maybe?
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101 sats \ 6 replies \ @Modus 6 Jul 2022
Chris DeRose and Junseth Wences Casares Tim May
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100 sats \ 4 replies \ @Modus 6 Jul 2022
Peter Wuille Peter Todd Andrew Poelstra Austin Hill
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50 sats \ 3 replies \ @Modus 6 Jul 2022
Roger Ver (Benedict Arnold haha) Trace Mayer
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52 sats \ 0 replies \ @Modus 6 Jul 2022
Samson Mow ?????? John Carvalho?????? Fiatjaf???????
With these three i dont know how far back they go. May not qualify.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @uco OP 6 Jul 2022
I almost put Roger on my initial list but wanted to see what others thought.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Modus 6 Jul 2022
If Karpeles counts, i think Ver counts. I would lean toward removing both. Just as Benedict Arnold isn't a founding father. Some of the others on the list are shotcoiners but i would keep them. Only full betrayal should get someone removed, i think.
EDIT: More names: Eric Hughes Jameson Lopp Len Sassaman
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6 sats \ 0 replies \ @uco OP 6 Jul 2022
Big fan of Wences!
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100 sats \ 3 replies \ @jeff 5 Jul 2022
Jochen Hoenicke?
Clark Moody?
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @uco OP 5 Jul 2022
Great suggestion on Clark Moody!
I hadn't heard of Jochen Hoenicke. Could you provide some of his notable contributions to bitcoin?
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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @jeff 6 Jul 2022
AFAIK, I think Jochen has ran the longest mempool visualization site. On donations only. No business model. He must be going on a decade of operating it.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @uco OP 6 Jul 2022
nice! I have seen his mempool visualization but didn't realize he was the longest running.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 5 Jul 2022
Why 56? Are there 56 founding fathers?
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @uco OP 5 Jul 2022
yep 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @uco OP 6 Jul 2022
Anyone remember Amir Taaki? He might deserve a spot on the list
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryptocoin 6 Jul 2022
Absolutely. He's also the one who introduced the BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Protocol), and authored BIP 1:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0001
And his appearance on Jason Calacanis' This Week in Startups, alongside Gavin Andresen:
https://soundcloud.com/twistartups/bitcoin-discussion-with https://thisweekinstartups.com/bitcoin-discussion-with-gavin-andresen-and-amir-taaki-on-this-week-in-startups-140/
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0 sats \ 4 replies \ @Modus 6 Jul 2022
More ideas: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:People
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1000 sats \ 3 replies \ @cryptocoin 6 Jul 2022
That, and a couple other relatively comprehensive lists:
Of those I don't already see listed in this post, ... in chronological order (loosely), from what I can remember and in parenthesis (), what they were known for at the time they started with Bitcoin:
  • Jon Matonis (e-Money, Bitcoin Foundation)
  • Ian Grigg (Triple Entry Accounting, Financial Cryptography)
  • Sirius, a.k.a. Martti Malmi (Bitcoin Dev, Bitcoin.org)
  • Ray Dillinger (Bitcoin Dev)
  • James A. Donald (Bitcoin Dev)
  • Greg Maxwell (Bitcoin Dev)
  • ArtForz (early GPU miner who once controlled 25% of the hashrate)
  • Patrick McFarland (DiabloMiner)
  • Nanotube (Bitcoin-OTC IRC P2P trading marketplace)
  • Chris Moore / Doogius (Developer)
  • Wladimir van der Laan (Bitcoin Dev, then Bitcoin Core lead)
  • Mike Hearn (BitcoinJ)
  • Cobra Bitcoin (Bitcoin.org)
  • Theymos (BitcoinTalk forum, r/Bitcoin)
  • Nils Schneider (Bitcoin Dev)
  • Jed McCaleb (Founded Mt. Gox, then sold it to Mark Karpeles, then Ripple, and now Stellar)
  • Jerry Brito (Journalist, now CoinCenter)
  • Patrick M. Byrne (Overstock.com)
  • Peter Vessenes (Bitcoin Foundation)
  • James McCarthy / Nefario (GLBSE)
  • Mircea Popescu (MPEx options exchange) R.I.P.
  • Christian Decker (Developer)
  • Tamas Blummer (Bits Of Proof) R.I.P.
  • Rick Falkvinge (Privacy, then Bitcoin Cash)
  • Con Kolivas (CK Pool)
  • Marek Palatinus / Slush (Slush Pool, and now also Braiins)
  • Vladimir Marchenko (Marchenko - first cloud mining op)
  • Mike Caldwell (Casascius)
  • Patrick Strateman (Intersango exchange)
  • Ron Gross
  • Meni Rosenfeld
  • Adam B. Levine (Let's Talk Bitcoin)
  • David Schwartz (Cryptographer, Bitcoin Stack Exchange contributor, now Ripple)
  • Andreas Schildbach (Bitcoin Wallet)
  • Eric Lombrozo (Bitcoin Dev, now Ciphrex)
  • Sergio Demian Lerner (Data scientist, now Rootstock)
  • Jeremias Kangas (LocalBitcoins)
  • Ben Reeves (Blockchain.info)
  • Stefan Thomas (WeUseBitcoin.com, then Ripple)
  • Tony Gallippi (BitPay)
  • Stephen Pair (BitPay)
  • Zhou Tong (Bitcoinica)
  • Mark Erhardt / Murch (Bitcoin Stack Exchange mod, now Chaincode Labs)
  • Cory Fields (Bitcoin Core)
  • Matt Corallo (Bitcoin Core)
  • Tyler Winklevoss (BitInstant, and now Gemini)
  • Cameron Winklevoss (BitInstant, and now Gemini)
  • FriedCat (ASICMiner)
  • Jihan Wu (Bitmain)
  • Nangeng Zhang (Canaan)
  • Nejc Kodric (BitStamp)
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50 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryptocoin 6 Jul 2022
I forgot, ... Kiba. Kiba!! from BitcoinTalk. Oh man, can't forget Kiba!
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123 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryptocoin 6 Jul 2022
And there is at least one interesting story with almost every name on that list!
Like Stefan Thomas, who earned the bounty of 7,002 BTC for creating a marketing video that appears on that website (WeUseCoins.com, I had it wrong above). Then can't remember the password for the encrypted hard drive.
Or, FriedCat's ASICMiner, ... probably the most profitable ICO ever, listed on a "crypto" securities exchange (GLBSE) that was later shut down by the founder (Nefario, also in the list above), immediately after being questioned by a regulator at a bitcoin conference. Not sure about the current status of Friedcat (Jiang Xinyu), either:
Tracking Friedcat After His Missing in 2015 https://news.8btc.com/tracking-friedcat-after-his-missing-in-2015
Speaking of GLBSE, ... prior to founding GLBSE, Nefario was known for being refused entry into the U.S. for a pre-planned two-month stay in Seattle at the first Bitcoin co-working / incubator. Nefario had little cash ($600) on him and no credit cards, ... he only had a wallet containing thousands of bitcoin. No dice, ... immigration didn't believe (or understadn) his story and sent him back home.
And that incubator in Seattle, ... Peter Vessenes' Coinlab? There's a few stories, ... relating to the Mt. Gox bankruptcy. Too much on that to even begin explaining it here.
Let's see what else ... oh, Vessenes and the Bitcoin Foundation, .. which was later directed by Bruce Fenton, who is currently running to be a U.S. Senator in New Hampshire.
And ... how could I forget to mention ... wait, ... OK, this is long enough. Someone could write a book about all these stories though!
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @uco OP 6 Jul 2022
Thanks for sharing these glimpses of the past!! So many good stories buried in bitcoin history. Wish we could capture them all for posterity.
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