A “community movement” that amounts over 600 individuals in just two days is pursuing legal action against Bitcoin.com and its owner, Roger Ver, for deliberately misleading new users into buying Bitcoin Cash (BCH) instead of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin.com is doubtlessly a major domain in the crypto world. When an interested person googling “buy bitcoin,” the first result is buy.bitcoin.com.
Upon clicking the link, a user is greeted with the following screen.
The logos are not only very similar and even the same color (BCH logo is typically green on most platforms to avoid confusion), but Bitcoin.com is the only website that refers to Bitcoin (BTC) as “Bitcoin Core.”
The Bitcoin Core name directs to the Bitcoin software client, also known as the Satoshi client, which was originally called simply “Bitcoin”, but later was renamed to distinguish it from the Bitcoin network and currency.
Furthermore, the Bitcoin Cash option is appeared at the top without their respective BTC and BCH tickers. In case an investor is not so familiar with the difference, it is highly likely to be confused, if not completely fooled.
One user in the Telegram wrote that its seems like advertising selling of gold and you actually sell a piece of coal, while also citing stories of people who mistakenly sent BTC to a BCH address and vice versa.
Earlier this week, Bitcoin.com underwent changes to present Bitcoin Cash as Bitcoin. Most notably the block explorer, which changed from Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to Bitcoin Core (BTC) and Bitcoin (BCH).
The Bitcoin community was outraged by this change. It was also a controversial topic among Bitcoin Cash backers; many of them believe Bitcoin Cash can compete on its own merit rather than attempting to steal the Bitcoin name.
Another example includes the website’s “Bitcoin Course,” intended to help new users understand what Bitcoin is and how it works. However, the line between the two is blurred in a few places. It references Bitcoin Cash only several times, with most of the graphics in the course displaying “Bitcoin” and the Bitcoin logo.
At the same time, longtime associate of Roger Ver and Shapelift CEO, Erik Voorhees has also distanced himself from Ver’s latest attempts to present Bitcoin Cash as the “real Bitcoin.”
Roger – please stop referencing me to back up your opinion that Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin,” he tweeted. “It isn’t. Bitcoin is the chain originating from the genesis block with the highest accumulated proof of work.
“The Bitcoin Cash fork failed to gain majority, thus it is not Bitcoin.”
In a Telegram group chat created by the use @MoneyTrigz, an admin at CoinTimes and co-owner of CoinDaily, the lawsuit was gaining steam, and has grown to over 600 members in a couple of days.
The group says it has attracted some community “bigwigs,” some of which include Bitcoin entrepreneurs Charlie Shrem and Richard Heart, Xotika.TV CEO John Carvalho, and Ibrea.org founder Ragnar Lifthrasir, who’s been urging people to report the Bitcoin dot com wallet for fraud.
Nevertheless, MoneyTrigz made it clear that no one is in charge for that movement.
“It’s more of a community movement, cuz that’s what it is,” he explains. “It’s not led by me. I just sparked the flame that’s all.”
“The consensus on this matter is the same,” he continues.
“Everybody is frustrated and outraged plus you have victims now losing money because of it. [Bitcoin.com] crossed the line, and we’re pushing back legally.”
A user questioned the pursuit of legal action stating “using any government entity in this dispute seems backward, “adding that “ultimately the markets will decide.”
To which John Carvalho responded:
“We’re all the market. This isn’t asking the government to do something. It’s using tools the government provides. This is the market deciding. It’s literally putting money into a solution.”
The group only revealed the home country of the law firm that is being contacted to be one from the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, where the Bitcoin.com company is registered. The given reason is that it is a public group and the majority of people directly linked to Bitcoin dot com have already been banned from the chatroom.
MoneyTrigz and other group admins have also highlighted that it is not a discussion group, but rather for victims of the deceit to share their experience.
“The legal angles are being discussed with lawyers, not up for discussion here, this is public, [Bitcoin.com] have eyes here,” Money Trigz announced in the group.
For people who have lost money from the scheme, a new official website called bitcoincomlawsuit.info has launched yesterday, where they can submit their evidence and join in on the lawsuit.
“A group of 600+ participants from influential industry leaders to community volunteers & contributors who devote to protect users from fraudulent businesses and help victims recover lost funds,” the website description reads.
However, Bitcoincomlawsuit.info is not accepting donations just yet.
“We have things going on behind the scenes and ALOT of industry people dm us to help with lawyer firm recommendations and in different jurisdictions. There seems to be some serious merit with a few of the approaches. Can’t say more now. Send everybody to us that lost money using bitcoincom platform or wallet,” he added.
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