The Bitcoin Cash Civil War now embroils Crypto Exchanges

If there is one thing I love about the Cryptoverse is that it is always buzzing with something new, interesting or controversial and today’s edition of my Crypto diaries is no different. Back in November 2018, the offshoot of crypto kingpin Bitcoin (BTC) underwent a controversial hard fork when the BCH community split into BCH ABC (Adjustable Blocksize Cap) & BCH SV (Satoshi Vision) – keep in mind that BCH was a result of a Bitcoin hard fork itself in August 2017 & also has underwent another hard fork in May 2018 – For a little backdrop on the hard fork that happened six months ago, read this piece. The hash war between the two off-shoots of BCH has been going on ever since but it has taken a new twist with the delisting of BSV from multiple exchanges most recently. Will come back to that shortly, here’s a detailed map of all the Bitcoin forks ever since its creation.

It was pretty evident from the get-go that this hard fork is going to create a division in the Crypto community as is the case with most of the hard forks, where there is a consensus conflict. However, this particular split has gone far & beyond in taking this controversy to another level. Despite passing of 6 months, which BTW is an eternity in Cryptoverse, the two camps have had multiple exchanges of hostilities claiming superiority over the other. As if this was not enough, Crypto exchanges have now jumped into the foray which started off with the high-profile delisting of BSV by Binance (on April 15th) – one of the biggest crypto exchanges by volume. The immediate reaction was almost a 10% drop (26% total so far) in the price of BSV as it can be seen in the hourly chart of BSV below. On the surface, it came on the heels of the official policy of Binance – “to ensure that it [an asset] continues to meet the high level of standard we expect.” However, Changpeng Zhao (CEO Binance) had tweeted a few days earlier showing his antagonism over Craig Wright’s (creator of BSV) repeated self-proclamations of being Satoshi Nakamoto.

Craig Wright is not Satoshi. Anymore of this sh!t, we delist!

This one-off move by CZ created ripples in the Crypto community as #DelistBSV and  #CraigWrightIsAFraud started trending on social media. Feeling the heat from Binance & citing community sentiment – Kraken – another major crypto exchange decided to delist BSV from its platform as well. A Twitter poll conducted by the exchange showed an overwhelming majority supported (71% of 70545 votes) the move. Soon after, another crypto exchange ShapeShift followed suit showing solidarity with Binance.

As divisions widened the biggest crypto exchange by traded volume OKEx decided not to delist BSV, giving the latter a much-needed break from the continuous onslaught in the face of multiple delistings. OKEx most probably took a softer stance since it is a partner in the recently founded BSV-based cryptocurrency exchange FloatSV, which is expected to be launched by April 19. Just when you thought the drama couldn’t get any weirder, Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings announced that it will be delisting BCHABC instead! Apparently, CEO of SBI, Yoshitaka Kitao, is a close friend of Craig Wright as revealed by latter in a tweet in January. So far, BCHABC delisting hasn’t had any significant impact on its price as it continues to gain among the rest of the Cryptos as you can see in its daily chart below.

Comparing the resulting price action purely in both BCH & BSV, it is pretty evident that BSV has taken a huge hit in the aftermath of the split back in November exacerbated by the recent delistings. As of now, the price of BSV is not even 20% of its contemporary at the time of writing – $55.42 compared to $313.26 – with BCH sitting @ the 4th spot as BSV slides to Number 14 among top cryptos by market cap. As far as the numbers dictate, BCH is clearly winning this civil war.

For the sake of neutrality, I would not like to take sides but from the functionality perspective, community support & price action BCH ABC seems set to outlast its competitor in the long run. Maybe, if Craig Wright would have controlled his rants, things might have been a little better for BSV. But then again, having a difference of opinion is the beauty of the decentralized model. Stay tuned as this drama continues to unfold…

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