Dear Masterminds,
I have been continuously involved with the Mastercoin project for the last year. I was the first person to reply to J.R Willet’s original announcement of Mastercoin on August 1st 2013, an early Exodus investor, a board member in the Mastercoin Foundation, and finally the Executive Director of the Mastercoin Foundation.
Throughout this time, the team and me continuously worked on building The Master Protocol layer and associated toolset, culminating in the recent release of the Master Core and Omniwallet beta . Finally, after one year of working on Mastercoin, I have decided it is time for me to move on to other projects. I believe it is the right move both for me and for Mastercoin, and I trust the continued development of the protocol in the capable hands of David Johnston.
David’s involvement in the Master Protocol over the last year has been considerable. Through the BitAngels network which he founded, he recruited many exodus investors and board members to the Foundation. He created the DAPps Fund, a VC which is focused on investing in various decentralized applications to boost the growth of the entire ecosystem, and had multiple critical contributions to the development of the protocol. Going forward, David will be taking over as Chairman of the Board of directors.
Our CTO, Craig Sellars, will continue leading the technical day-to-day development of the project.
As for me, I will remain on the board of the Foundation, and I am highly incentived for MSC to succeed (I haven’t sold a single mastercoin since I took the seat of Executive Director last year). I am grateful for the opportunity I was given to lead the project for the last year, and hope for it to reach new heights under David’s leadership.
Ron Gross
Omni 
Good luck Ron!
Good luck in your future endeavors Mr Gross. The vision you possessed in recognizing Mastercoin’s potential will serve you well, and bring you much success.
As I write this, good luck and congratulations on your achievement letter, I am in the midst of writing an article regarding what will eventually become the 3rd token to be created upon the Master Protocol. Mere moments ago I wrote:
“Mastercoin is a whole other article, to say the least. The economic activity and growth that will be created via the crowd sourcing capabilities enabled via tokens the Master Protocol provides for will be in the billions.”
Still today, most people in society, and many involved in the crypto-sphere, do not either realize or recognize the validity of those words, but you did back then, and I most certainly did last December when I first read of Mastercoin. That was when the penny dropped.
My life has has gone in a completely different, exciting, and beneficial direction, not only for myself, but also for the planet since that day. For it was in Mastercoin I recognized not only the potential for much economic activity, but also the ability for much societal good to be created. I have been galvanized in that regard ever since, and I would personally like to thank you for your vision, and hard work. Without your efforts, and everyone else at Mastercoin I would not be working on the exciting projects I do today.
Thank you, and I wish you all the greatest success.
Sincerely,
David Tiessen
GENERcoin Architect
Marketing Director, Arterran Renewables
Thanks Assaf and David for your support – I wish you continue to utilize the Master Protocol to do good things 🙂
Ron, it’s been quite an amazing first year for Mastercoin, and we have benefitted from your drive and leadership. You’ve staged us up for success, and with David’s vision and commitment, we’re excited to show what we can accomplish in year two.