Frederick Thiel0:00
It's great to see everybody here again. Looks like people are still filing into the room, but I'll be quick. It's really good to be here with all of you, builders, miners, developers, educators, and people who believe in what this network represents. At MARA, we spend a lot of time thinking about infrastructure, about energy, compute, and the systems that make Bitcoin work at scale. Every day, we mine Bitcoin, and we help secure the network. And that vantage point gives us a very clear perspective. Bitcoin is the most important decentralized system ever created. But its future is not guaranteed. It depends on what all of us do next. Not just as companies, not just as investors, but as stewards. Think of it this way. Bitcoin is like a public utility that nobody owns but everybody depends on. The plumbing works today, but if we don't maintain the plumbing, inspect the infrastructure, train the next generation of engineers, and do the things we have to do to support everything working on a daily basis, the system will eventually break. Not because it was designed badly, but because nobody invested in keeping it strong. And so that raises a pretty simple question. If your business is built on Bitcoin, what responsibility do you have to the ecosystem behind it? For us at MARA, the answer is clear. It's not optional. Because the long-term strength of the network depends on more than hash rate. It depends on developers continuing to maintain and improve the protocol. Researchers thinking ahead about risks like quantum computing and policy makers understanding what the system is and what it isn't. Those things don't happen automatically or by themselves and in most cases they're not well funded. So today I'm proud to announce the launch of the MARA Foundation. The MARA Foundation is our new initiative dedicated to supporting the long-term strength, resilience, and accessibility of the Bitcoin network. It will operate independently from MARA's core business. This isn't about driving revenue. It's about investing in the parts of the ecosystem that don't have clear economic incentives, but are critical to Bitcoin's future. That includes supporting Bitcoin's long-term security, including research into emerging threats like quantum computing, funding open-source developers, the people who maintain and improve the protocol without centralized backing. Expanding access to self-custody so more people around the world can actually use Bitcoin, not just hold it on an exchange. Advancing policy and advocacy to ensure Bitcoin remains open, permissionless, and protected. And investing in education for users, developers, and policy makers who are all still early in understanding what this technology can do. This isn't something we believe should be dictated from the top down. Bitcoin was built by its community, and so the MARA Foundation should reflect that. Which brings me to our first initiative, a $100,000 contribution, which will be awarded to one of three mission-aligned nonprofit organizations working in the Bitcoin ecosystem. And instead of deciding the recipient ourselves, we're putting the decision in all of your hands, the community. The three organizations we've selected represent different but equally important parts of the ecosystem. Libre Satoshi, which is an organization that seeks to make Bitcoin technical education accessible across all languages and geographies to decentralize Bitcoin knowledge and build the next generation of protocol developers. The 256 Foundation, a 501c3 public charity dedicated to funding developers who are building open-source Bitcoin mining hardware and software solutions and providing the educational resources, tools, and support to demystify Bitcoin. Satnet, an organization that aims to improve the quality of life in communities across the global south by providing low-cost, community-run, self-sustaining wireless internet service provided by Bitcoin, powered by Bitcoin. Over the next couple of days, you will all have the opportunity to vote on which organization should receive the $100,000 grant. You can vote online at foundation.mara.com. I'll repeat that. foundation.mara.com or if you're here at the conference, you can come by the MARA Foundation booth and vote in person. We'll announce the result after voting closes at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, April 29th. But this is just the beginning. The MARA Foundation is not a one-time initiative. It's a long-term commitment to supporting the people and projects that make Bitcoin stronger, often behind the scenes and often without recognition. I'll close with this. Bitcoin is often described as decentralized and that's true. But decentralization doesn't mean it runs on its own. It means responsibility is distributed across developers, across miners, across companies, and across users. And at MARA, we've benefited from Bitcoin's growth. And the MARA Foundation is how we invest back into the network that made it possible. Thank you for your time and we look forward to working with many of you through the MARA Foundation.
