加密货币初创公司Block.one联合创始人因何下台

布罗克·皮尔斯是加密货币界重量级人物，在HBO脱口秀节目《Last Week Tonight》主持人约翰·奥利弗提到其曾遭到起诉的事情后，皮尔斯参与创立且旨在抗衡以太坊的初创公司block.one表示这位备受争议的往日童星已经离职。

作为区块链平台EOS开发商，block.one本周二在网络内容发布平台Medium上撰文称，皮尔斯将不再担任该公司首席策略官：“我们最近达成协议，布罗克将终止在block.one的工作，转向独立社区建设和投资活动。”但block.one没有说明皮尔斯离职的理由。

虽然仍在开发过程中，但EOS已成为加密领域最常被谈起的区块链服务商之一。这个区块链网络可能更灵活、更快，而且人们还能以它为基础打造新的应用。去年5月份EOS宣布成立以来投资者一直很兴奋，并帮助block.one初步融资7亿美元。加密货币信息网站CoinMarketCap的数据显示，目前所有流通中EOS的价值为38亿美元，已经成为第九大加密货币。

上周日，奥利弗对EOS的地位提出疑问，并暗示皮尔斯有着不堪的过去。播放了皮尔斯介绍EOS潜在益处的营销活动录像后，奥利弗把前者称为“白痴”并对其演艺生涯做出了批评。

奥利弗说：“这个昏昏欲睡、让人惶恐的未来派牛仔名叫布罗克·皮尔斯。他的处女作是《野鸭变凤凰》（The Mighty Ducks），他还在…… Gushers水果糖广告里扮演一个变成香蕉的小男孩。然后，那支香蕉做了一些非常不堪的事。只要在谷歌上搜索一下‘布罗克·皮尔斯丑闻’就知道我在说什么了。”

在谷歌上输入“布罗克·皮尔斯丑闻”搜索到的新闻是皮尔斯前公司雇员提起的诉讼，这家已经破产的网络视频合资公司名为Digital Entertainment Network，而这些始于2000年的诉讼指控皮尔斯胁迫这些当时还是未成年人的员工与其发生性关系。

2014年，旨在推广加密货币的非营利组织Bitcoin Foundation将皮尔斯选为董事，该组织一些成员为抗议此事而辞职。

皮尔斯接受路透社采访时否认了这些指控，并称其中两起官司的原告已经撤诉。但据路透社报道，他确实花了超过2.1万美元来了结另一宗诉讼。

《财富》杂志请皮尔斯和block.one就此发表评论，但二者均未做出回应。

周一，奥利弗的评判看来引起了皮尔斯的兴趣，他在推特上转发了相关视频的YouTube链接，并建议粉丝们看一看。

约翰·奥利弗提到了我们的“婚礼”。我建议大家从头到尾看一遍。他提出了一些重要观点，而且让我笑得在地上打滚。要点在于你要为自己的命运负责（做出回应并承担后果是一种极大的责任）https://t.co/izCmKfqA2C @crystalrose

— 布罗克·皮尔斯(@brockpierce)（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

Following a segment by Last Week Tonight host John Oliver that alluded to past lawsuits against major cryptocurrency player Brock Pierce, the startup that he co-founded to rival Ethereum now says it has parted ways with the controversial former child star.

Block.one, the firm developing blockchain platform EOS, wrote on Medium on Tuesday that Pierce would step down from his role as chief strategy officer. “We recently came to a mutual agreement that Brock would end his role at block.one as he transitions to independent community building and investment activities,” the company said without giving a reason for his departure.

Although still under development, EOS has become one of the most talked-about blockchain services in the crypto-sphere. Since being announced in May, investors excited by the potentially more flexible, and faster blockchain network upon which new applications can be built, helped block.one raise $700 million initially, with the value of all EOS in circulation now at $3.8 billion—making it the ninth largest cryptocurrency—according to CoinMarketCap.

On Sunday, Oliver raised questions about EOS’s status and alluded to Pierce having an unsavory history. After broadcasting a corporate marketing video showing Pierce talking about the potential benefits of EOS, Oliver called Pierce a “douche” and criticized his prior acting career.

“That sleepy creepy cowboy from the future is named Brock Pierce. He began his career appearing in ‘ The Mighty Ducks‘ and in… a Gushers commercial as a child who turns into a banana,” Oliver said. “Well that banana then got involved with some very unsavory figures. Just Google ‘Brock Pierce Scandal,’ is all I’m saying there.”

A Google search of “Brock Pierce scandal” returns news articles about lawsuits by former employees of Pierce’s previous company, a bankrupt web video venture, Digital Entertainment Network. Those lawsuits stemming from 2000 alleged that the cryptocurrency co-founder had pressured them as then-minors for sex.

In 2014, several members of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for the cryptocurrency, resigned in protest of Pierce’s election as a director of the organization.

Pierce denied the sexual abuse allegations, telling Reuters that two of the suits were dropped. He did however, pay over $21,000 to settle another, according to Reuters.

Neither Pierce nor block.one responded to immediate requests by Fortune for comment.

On Monday, Pierce appeared to be amused by Oliver’s criticisms, tweeting out a link to the comedian’s YouTube video of the segment and suggesting that his followers should watch it.

John Oliver mentions our wedding. I suggest watching the entire segment. He had me ROFL while making important points. The main ones are that you are responsible for your own destiny (to respond and to be responsible is a great responsibility) https://t.co/izCmKfqA2C @crystalrose

— Ƀrock PiErce (@brockpierce)