- Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has called the prospect of a BSV linkup a “perfectly terrible idea”
- Wales was responsing to a suggestion on Twitter that the online encyclopedia use BSV to pay contributors
- Wales added that “BSV offers nothing for Wikipedia”
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has responded negatively to CoinGeek’s claims that BSV is the perfect coin to get the online encyclopedia into crypto payments. Wales has signed up to speak at CoinGeek London at the end of the month, but his attendance was immediately put into question when he took umbrage at the way that CoinGeek, the mining giant owned by BSV backer Calvin Ayre, had marketed his appearance as some kind of potential linkup between the two companies.
Nyugen Tries to Claim Wikipedia-BSV Linkup
Bitcoin Association President and nChain executive Jimmy Nyugen announced on Thursday that Wales had agreed to speak at the conference later this month, with CoinGeek offering further details on the engagement, adding their own unique twist:
Until the emergence of Bitcoin SV (BSV) to reclaim Bitcoin’s original design, no blockchain had the scalability to power micropayments to efficiently reward better user information and handle the staggering amount of data Wikipedia carries.
CoinGeek is, therefore, thrilled to have Jimmy Wales as a keynote speaker and looks forward to hearing his views on combating fake news, improving the quality of online information, and how Bitcoin technology might have some of the answers.
Nyugen himself added more fuel to the flames in the same announcement:
Having Jimmy Wales joining us…will offer a fascination [sic] insight in one of the most talked about phenomenon [sic] of recent years, fake news and the need for more reliable online information. We, certainly feel that BSV might well have solutions to offer so let’s have that conversation in London!
Wales Rejects “Endorsement” Suggestion
Nyugen might have been under the impression that he could use Wales’ attendance as a way of crowbarring in a link to Wikipedia donations, a holy grail for all crypto entities, but Wales himself was quick to dispel these suggestions:
Your marketing materials need to be updated immediately – as people seem to be reading this as some kind of endorsement from me. I’m coming to speak my mind, which includes that BSV offers nothing for Wikipedia and that there is zero chance we would ever use it. https://t.co/Smm5RfXBJc
— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) February 7, 2020
This brutal retort is a slap in the face for the BSV crowd, who went from crooning over the appointment to dismissing Wales and Wikipedia:
That’s because wikipedia is communist.
— BitCastSV (@BitCastSV) February 7, 2020
I don’t know about you guise, but all I heard was Mr Permaloss say ‘Help me Chad Rogues, BSV is the only thing that can save my communist bulletin board’.
— tom craz (@craz_tom) February 7, 2020
Nyugen Should Have Known Better
Nyugen should have known better than to try and use Wales’ acceptance of a speaker role as any kind of endorsement for the project – Wales is known for his no bullshit approach, and will not have taken kindly to BSV’s attempts to link him to it, which come just days after Kraken’s Business Development Director Dan Held called it a “silly endeavor”. BSV’s approach was summarized by one observer:
This is their MO Jimmy, to tie loose associations to public figures as ringing endorsements. They are scammers.
— Rory (@roryhighside) February 7, 2020
One thing’s for sure, CoinGeek London just got a lot more interesting!
