Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash’s most fervent supporters are at it again and Twitter has become a bitter battlefield.
The latest victim? The @Bitcoin Twitter account.
@Bitcoin carries the name of the largest cryptocurrency but, just like Bitcoin.com, frequently issued statements supporting Bitcoin Cash, which split from Bitcoin last year over a disagreement on how the technology should scale. These posts don’t sit well with supporters of the original Bitcoin blockchain, known as Bitcoin Core.
The fight between the two groups prompted prominent blockchain developer Jeff Garzik and others, to attribute the suspension to the endless complaints about @Bitcoin that Twitter was likely getting from Bitcoin Core supporters. Twitter didn’t state reasons for the suspension.
Roger Ver, an early Bitcoin evangelist whose work earned him the nick-name of Bitcoin Jesus, has now become a vocal supporter of Bitcoin Cash. Ver, who owns the Bitcoin.com website, tweeted:
The latest skirmish in the war which started with the so-called Bitcoin Cash fork in August, highlights the downside of decentralized organizations and technologies. The lack of a management team means contributors globally can work on improving the technology, which will be implemented only if a majority agrees, but it’s also cause for disagreements and splits.
“The cryptocurrency development is open source, which means disagreements get aired publicly with the additional angle of the forking of a blockchain, where you have to take the entire network with you, and that creates much more tension," said Neeraj Agrawal, a spokesman at blockchain research advocacy Coin Center. “I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.”
Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, a well-known Bitcoin Core supporter, was likely one of the first to alert to the suspension with this tweet on Sunday:
The account now seems to be under new control. The bio now reads "My name is Andrei from Moscow Russia." The private account, which means Tweets aren’t visible to those @Bitcoin doesn’t follow back, has less than 2,000 followers and a background picture that reads "I love you."
