whit on Nostr: A brief review of OpenSats: This is from the public record. 2020–2022 → OpenSats ...

A brief review of OpenSats:

This is from the public record.

2020–2022
→ OpenSats says it was founded in 2020
→ 2021: Ben Price listed directly as director
→ 2022: Ben Price listed as officer/director; Lisa Neigut as director

2023
→ May: $10M #startsmall gift
→ $5M earmarked for Nostr
→ NVK + Gigi join the board
→ fiatjaf + NVK named in Nostr evaluation
→ July: first major Nostr grant wave
→ September: board minutes discuss “setting up LLCs for board members”

2024
→ March 26: board unanimously approves LLCs as board members
→ May 4: another $21M #startsmall gift
→ another $5M earmarked for Nostr
→ Nostr LTS rolls out

FY2024 Form 990:
→ 9 voting board seats
→ 9 reported independent
→ $0 board compensation

Director entities listed:

Freedom Tech LLC
BigRebase LLC
Necessary Trouble LLC
Full Disclosure LLC
IB Cypherust LLC
Orange Coin Good LLC
X0F Corp
Innocuous Widgets LLC
Stay Humble LLC

PUBLIC ROLE OVERLAPS

Ben Price → OpenSats + The Bitcoin Company

Lisa Neigut → OpenSats + The Bitcoin Company + Base58 + Ego Death Capital

Gigi → OpenSats + The Bitcoin Company + Sovereign Engineering

Matt Odell → OpenSats + Ten31 + Bitcoin Park

NVK → OpenSats + Nostr evaluation + Coinkite

Dread → OpenSats + Education Initiative + Flash

James O’Beirne → OpenSats board + funding-candidate assessments + Bitcoin Core/NYDIG

2025
→ Nostr LTS: 13 people
→ 12 returning
→ 1 new
→ 92.3% returning

Q1/Q2 minutes:
→ discuss “making Ben obsolete” through automation/distributed responsibility

September 25:
→ one unidentified board member auto-recuses from ALL Nostr applications
→ approval threshold drops to 4/8

WHO? Unknown.
WHY? Unknown.

2026
→ Q1: OpenSats reports 3,000+ application evaluations
→ James O’Beirne’s grant application discussed while he remains on board
→ June 24: James drops grant plan + resigns
→ same meeting: board votes to restructure “with natural persons”
→ August: NVK’s board tenure ends
→ September: OpenSats describes technical committees + majority board approval

UNRESOLVED

⬜ exact human behind each of the 9 director LLCs
⬜ identity/reason for blanket Nostr recusal
⬜ exact relationship behind FY2024 Form 990 “YES” family/business relationship disclosure

Just the timeline, the relationships, and the gaps.

People can decide what they think.

#FollowTheSats
#FollowTheFiat
#FollowTheHumans
#FollowTheEntities
#Nostr #OpenSats