The fallout from Binance’s decision to delist Bitcoin Cash Satoshi’s Vision (BSV) continues, with a Japanese exchange now delisting its rival Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and discussion on the extent of exchange-power dominating the community. With ShapeShift having already followed Binance’s lead and delisted BSV and Kraken seemingly heading the same way, the battle lines have been drawn with smaller exchanges getting in on the act.
Insults Flying Following Binance’s Decision
Binance’s announcement Monday that they were delisting BSV led to a 28% drop in its price, which isn’t surprising given Binance’s clout in the industry and the fact that their BSV volume is second only to that of OKEx, even after the announcement. It didn’t take long for shock to turn to vitriol and for crypto Twitter to turn into an elementary school playground, with insults and accusations flying in all directions.
Among the worst protagonists were BSV advocates Kevin Pham and Calvin Ayre, who attacked Binance through their own Twitter accounts and Ayre through his mining company Coingeek. Ayre even made the claim that the delisting was illegal and that the action would be reported to Maltese authorities. He also accused Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) of “playing God” and that the decision to delist the coin “smells of fear and manipulation.”
so childish, illegal and Corrupt…what monkey business do Ethereum and exchanges have going on that this is the reaction to Craig forcing a judge to pass judgement on the origins of Bitcoin by suing Vitalik for Liable?https://t.co/eJ0OpT6r9U
— Calvin Ayre (@CalvinAyre) April 15, 2019
Joining CZ on the receiving end of the attacks were Peter McCormack, who Wright has sued, with Pham in particular having it in for the ‘What Bitcoin Did’ podcast host:
– I have a failed marriage!
– I was a drug addict!
– My mom died!
– I made a million pumping shitcoins and lost it all!
-I go out of my way to get sued for clout.
(All this while having kids to feed)I’M A VICTIM, FEEL SORRY FOR ME AND TUNE INTO MY PODCAST!! ? https://t.co/kgPanQxZZd
— Kevin Pham (@_Kevin_Pham) April 15, 2019
Other Exchanges Follow Suit
Other crypto entities have also drawn battle lines, with Japanese exchange SBI Virtual Currencies delisting BCH less than 24 hours after Binance’s decision, claiming that BCH’s decreasing market cap makes it vulnerable to a 51% attack, as well as bemoaning the impact of Bitcoin Cash hard forks on the exchange. Coincidentally, SBI reportedly has a close relationship with nChain, Craig Wright’s company, and the BSV enterprise, but that’s probably nothing to do with it.
Blockchain Wallet said that it was siding with the anti-BSV brigade and removing support for the coin from its platform, while a BitForex was conducting a poll of its own. Where the game of delisting dominos will end it’s hard to tell, but the fact that this seems to be a tit-for-tat game based largely on sentiment rather than technicals does represent a potentially worrying trend, as was pointed out by Coinmetrics.io co-founder Nic Carter:
to be clear, Binance was absolutely right to delist BSV because a tiny minority hashrate coin is incredibly insecure and liable to be exploited. but it also does evidence how much power exchanges have
— nic carter (@nic__carter) April 15, 2019
