The Bitcoin Cash Split Isn’t Over Yet

November 16, 2018 9:33 PM

Yesterday, Bitcoin Cash split, becoming not one chain but two: Bitcoin Cash SV and Bitcoin Cash ABC. The event was covered like election day. There were charts and graphs, hype men posing as pundits, pundits posing as analysts, and chyrons displaying opinions from the depths of social media. But most of all: confusion.

While whole websites have been dedicated to tracking hash power for the opposing chains, existing block explorers aren’t even sure how to record the proceedings. Blockchair is tracking who’s following the new consensus rules, with three options: yes, no, and question mark.

If you’re looking for insightful analysis on what’s happening, this isn’t the place for it. (We’re ETHNews, after all, not BCHNews – or BCHSV/BCHABCNews.) But even if we were, no one really knows what is going on, nor can they know how this is going to pan out. It’s like commenting on the trajectory of a coin mid-flip.

To be clear, election day isn’t over. The votes are still being counted, and Florida is being weird again.

More importantly, however, it’s not an honest fight. Whereas last year’s split between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash sparked a war of words, there was still a substantial exchange of ideas. And the rules seemed clearly established, with miners, developers, and users left to choose a side and go their separate ways.

But in this latest split, it’s clear that one of the main players, Craig Wright, the raison d’être behind the Bitcoin Cash SV chain, has made it clear that he’s not above dirty tricks, repeatedly pushing a with-us-or-against-us posture. He’s not content to split – he wants the other chain annihilated.

Yet despite his endless stream of tweets – and despite all the transparency that blockchain offers – we simply don’t have full knowledge of what is going on inside his head. After all, what compels someone to claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, assert he has proof, fail to display meaningful evidence, and still have the temerity to call himself Satoshi? Who does that?

A narcissist does. And he’s continued to get away with his behavior, bringing plenty of others along with him. The man doesn’t know how to back down.

And although some prominent figures doubt Wright has the technical chops to complete any attacks on the other chain, he’s thus far managed to gather a decent following. Even if he can’t win, his acolytes can still make sure that everyone loses.

Jeff Benson is Managing Editor of ETHNews. He’s worked as a writer and editor everywhere from Sudan to Reno. He holds a bachelor’s in politics from Willamette University and a master’s in nationalism studies from University of Edinburgh. When he’s not in the newsroom, he trots the globe and writes about it. He holds a bit of value in ETH.

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