Amsterdam, March 8, 2015: Mr Marek Skonieczny – until recently – one of the co-founders of the Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam had to be removed twice by the Amsterdam Police from the premises of Hofje van Wijs ( address: Zeedijk 43 Amsterdam – http://www.hofjevanwijs.nl/en/ ) where the Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam meets.
He was formally cautioned by the Police that recurrence constitutes the criminal offense of trespassing or unlawful entry ( “lokaal vredebreuk” in Dutch – art. 138/139 Netherlands Criminal Code )
Afterwards he continued lingering near the entrance of the Hofje van Wijs on the street, till the end of the event. He continuously accosted fellow Bitcoiners stepping outside to smoke a cigarette and generally tried to rally up support or create personal sympathy by spreading half-truths, twisting facts and telling downright lies.
Mr Marek Skonieczny ( a.k.a under the assumed alias “Marek Skorek” ) was formally suspended as member and stripped of all his position(s) on March 6th by the Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam Association. He received a formal letter of that decision by mail, email and was later on repeatedly pre-warned by text messages that Police assistance would be called upon should he attempt to enter the premises and/or attend the organized meeting of Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam. This notice was jointly issued on behalf of the Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam Association and the owner of the Hofje van Wijs business mr. Lex Heij.
He also attempted to lure the invited speakers – mr. Jacob Smith of Antminer and mr. Yoshi Goto of Bitmain – to the organized Embassy venue by accosting them on the street and telling them the event had been moved to another nearby location.
Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam wishes to in particular thank mr Jop den Hartog and mr Boaz Bechar both of Blocktrail.org for inviting these speakers and their support in clarifying the situation in view of the confusion caused by mr. Marek Skonieczny. Blocktrail.org previously made the arrangements with him not being fully aware of the recent developments and all the relevant legal facts.
Despite these disruptions about 20 persons attended and much enjoyed each others company as well as the hosted event with Bitmain ( http://bitmain.com ) and Antminer ( http://www.bitmaintech.com ) on their latest technological developments for Bitcoin Miners.
More information and on that event will be posted later under the ‘news’ section of
Mr Marek Skonieczny – to our regret – continues to host another website on two other – very similar – domain names he intentionally and deliberately registered under his alias ‘Marek Skorek’. This website falsely claiming to (also) represent the Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam. On this website he lists profiles with the names and photographs etc. of several persons placed there without their (prior) permission.
Mr Marek Skonieczny has until March 13th 2015 to voluntarily comply by handing over the finances of the Bitcoin Embassy, various domain names and social media accounts, its belongings with full financial accountability.
Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam Association urgently requests persons and companies who were contacted by mr. Marek Skonieczny for and/or on behalf of Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam for whatever reason ( e.g. collecting membership dues and/or sponsor monies or for organizing future events ) to contact us giving full details. Similarly persons or companies who wish to have their details removed from mr. Skonieczny’s website can contact us for further advice on how best to proceed.
Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam calls on all fellow Bitcoin enthusiasts to take the trouble and invest some time to read and study all the facts, arguments and press releases before jumping to possibly incorrect or premature conclusions.
Having so far spent a lot of time trying to explain what happened we shall now because of Mr Marek Skonieczny’s acts be posting later a full detailed account of all facts, legal issues as well as some supportive information on informal Association(s) (“informele vereniging”).
Obviously we would rather spend our time on building the Embassy but just could not let mr. Marek Skonieczny get away with hijacking and completely destroying a good initiative.
For more information on what Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam – by some called 2.0 version – plans to do, its mission statement and its road map can be found at: /mission-statement/
Again we just want to build a solid not for profit association open for all constructive persons and companies with good intentions interested or involved in Bitcoin, Blockchain, peer-to-peer technologies, crypto-currencies etc. to join with a democratic structure and transparent financial accountability.
Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam Association
c/o Zeedijk 43
1012 AR Amsterdam
Email: [email protected]
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