Since September 19 was confirmed as the perpetual date for the Merge, crypto Twitter turned into a war zone with Bitcoin maxis waging a crusade against “shitcoins,” and Ethereans purging the fork heresy from their ranks. From heated yet polite debates to ad hominems, the never-ending battle between Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) seems to have gained a fresh impetus.
To Bitcoin maxis, Ethereum folks are nothing but a bunch of greedy scammers who feast on innocent retail investors, luring them with their 100% pre-mined coins. And Ethereum’s commitment to ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) principles is perceived by Bitcoiners as a threat to their beloved coin since many institutional investors started eyeing ETH because of its future energy friendliness and support for smart contracts.
Ethereum maxis, on the other hand, look down on Bitcoin as being an outdated, “dinosaur” coin that has no other functionality except serving as “Internet money.” To them, Bitcoin was the first clumsy attempt to create a decentralized electronic currency, and now, despite its overall significance, it has to give way to greener and more modern alternatives. And just like Bitcoiners, who believe that their opponents are lobbying regulators to prevent BTC adoption, Ethereans accuse Bitcoin die-hards of advocating for ETH to be labeled as security.
The issue whether Ethereum can be classified as security resurfaced after Michael Saylor, now an Executive Chairman at MicroStrategy and a Bitcoin maxi, claimed that ETH is “obviously” a security.
“I think Ethereum is a security, I think it’s pretty obvious, [...] it was issued by an ICO, there's a management team, there was a pre-mine, there’s a hard fork, there’s continual hard forks, there’s a difficulty bomb that keeps getting pushed back,” he told Altcoin Daily.
Vitalik Buterin felt spurred to action. “Why do maximalists keep picking heroes that turn out to be total clowns?” he asked his 4 million followers on Twitter as a reply to a video of Saylor saying that securities laws are based on the 10 commandments of the Bible. And given the fact that Ethereum co-founder usually refrains from participating in Twitter wars, it looks like the animosity between Bitcoiners and Ethereans has reached its climax.
Yet, in the midst of the most heated phase of the war, one Bitcoiner decided to call for a ceasefire. Matt Corallo, a Bitcoin Core contributor, called for an end of us-versus-them culture that earned Bitcoin maximalists a label of “toxicity.” In his Twitter thread, he acknowledged that times have changed, and dismissing all coins except Bitcoin as scams isn’t the right thing to do anymore. While some crypto projects may indeed be scams, it won’t help BTC.
“Focus on why Bitcoin is unique, talk about the difference of approach and conservatism and a focus on why Bitcoin is the only real candidate as a truly neutral currency for the internet. Point out how funding models change neutrality, but don't call that a scam, cause its not,” he advised fellow Bitcoiners.
