About a year ago Bitcoin reached a truce to end what had become a civil war between two factions of digital currency developers who had split on the issue of scaling the coin: There were those who wanted Bitcoin to be more of a commodity, like gold, with a limited supply that can accrue value; and those who wanted Bitcoin to be a currency that can be used quickly in transactions like the dollar.
The truce was essentially reached when the latter faction – i.e. those who wanted Bitcoin to be used as a currency – spun off and launched Bitcoin Cash. The de facto leader of the Bitcoin Cash team is Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin.com, who has been dubbed “Bitcoin Jesus.”
In an interview with Bloomberg back in April, Ver talked about why he was “incredibly bullish on Bitcoin Cash, not on Bitcoin core.” Ver told Bloomberg that while he “still owns some Bitcoin core,” he’s converted the “vast majority into Bitcoin Cash” because it “most closely resembles the economic formula that led Bitcoin to become this worldwide phenomenon that it is today.”
“It’s actually getting adoption all over the world,” Ver said. “More and more merchants are accepting it [and] it’s easier to use.”
However, this isn’t actually true, as Bloomberg points out. Citing data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, Bloomberg reports that Bitcoin Cash is actually “barely being used in commerce.”
A review of payments received by the world’s 17 largest crypto merchant processing services, such as BitPay, Coinify and GoCoin, found that Bitcoin Cash payments slumped to $3.7 million in May from a high of $10.5 million in March. Bitcoin payments totaled $60 million in May, down from a peak of $412 million in September.
Bitcoin Cash has plunged 75 percent this year – compared to 55 percent for Bitcoin core – and its “market capitalization has dropped by about 85 percent to $9.4 billion,” according to Bloomberg.
Oh, and that truce reached last year between the two factions at Bitcoin? That appears to be over – and the war is back on again.
Photo: YouTube/The Rudin Report