An American internet services firm has filed a lawsuit against Roger Ver, Bitmain, and Kraken for allegedly hijacking the Bitcoin Cash (BHC) network for personal benefit. UnitedCorp – the company that filed the suit – alleges that the trio worked together to centralize the BCH network, which is against the principles of Bitcoin. It’s likely that UnitedCorp was a backer of the Bitcoin SV party which lost out heavily in the hash war, and it’s looking to fight back against Ver for renting mining power.
Roger Ver Rented a Heap of Mining Power
In the middle of November, two parties from the Bitcoin Cash network had a falling out, which led to a hard fork of the network. Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV both battled it out to reign supreme for network dominance. All seemed well at first as ABC steamed ahead, and quickly claimed dominance – being listed by big exchanges as the true Bitcoin Cash. However, Roger Ver – part of the ABC chain – was desperate to win the war and rented mining power from Bitmain in order to come out on top. It’s for this reason that UnitedCorp is targeting these two firms.
Kraken Spreading Fear
Kraken got its feet wet quite early on in the hash war, warning traders on its platform that Bitcoin SV is potentially dangerous. This could possibly have had the impact of scaring Bitcoin SV traders away and encouraging them to buy Bitcoin ABC. This would be enough to implicate Kraken in Ver and Bitmain’s bid to take over the Bitcoin Cash network and centralize it – after all, it spread FUD about a competitor.
Bitcoin SV Incurred Heavy Losses…
Calvin Ayre and Craig Wright both sustained huge financial losses during the hash war, as the pair funded mining operations to muster up enough hash power to prevent ABC from attacking their SV network. On top of this, the hash war sent crypto markets plummeting, meaning any cash reserves held in crypto was being devalued rapidly. There is a good chance that UnitedCorp were backing the Bitcoin SV network heavily and incurred heavy losses themselves – it’s the only explanation for the lawsuit.
… Before Throwing in the Towel
It was very clear that ABC was renting hash power from Bitmain, as the Bitcoin network hash rate fell massively during the Bitcoin Cash hash war. With this information available at the time of the hash war, Calvin Ayre still threw in the towel and accepted that Bitcoin ABC is the true Bitcoin Cash. Had Ayre really cared about keeping the Bitcoin Cash name on his pet project – Bitcoin SV – then he would have kept the war going until Ver could no longer afford to pay Bitmain for the extra hash power. This could put a slight dent in UnitedCorp’s plans for a lawsuit to be successful.
The Fallout of War
Sure, Ver renting power from Bitmain in order to win that hash war was a pretty low-brow tactic, but at the end of the day there are no rules in war. There was nothing to stop Ayre and Wright from doing exactly the same thing – well except the fact they threatened to kill the crypto world – so it’s their own fault they lost the hash war. This lawsuit is just UnitedCorp looking to make a few bucks and get its name out in the crypto world as a PR stunt.
