UPDATED 20:46 EDT / APRIL 15 2019

BLOCKCHAIN

Binance, others to delist BSV in final chapter of Bitcoin Cash war

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, today announced it will delist Bitcoin SV, a cryptocurrency founded by controversial investor Craig Wright in what may be the final chapter of a saga that started over a split in Bitcoin Cash last year.

That saga started when a proposed fork of the cryptocurrency saw two separate groups emerge backing different standards, one led by Wright and another by Roger “Bitcoin Jesus” Ver.

Ultimately Ver won the battle and eventually, after a period of uncertainty, retained the name Bitcoin Cash for his forked version. Wright instead pushed BSV — the SV standing for Satoshi Vision after the founder of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Wright himself famously claimed to be Nakamoto in 2016 before seemingly backing away from the claim later the same year. But he never truly stopped, and that’s where the latest drama emerges from. Binance’s decision to delist BSV comes days after Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao threatened to do so if Wright did not cease attacks on Twitter users who are claiming he is not Satoshi Nakamoto.

In a statement today, Binance formally said its decision to delist BSV was made on a number of grounds including commitment of a team to the project and the level and quality of its development activity but as Coindesk points out, “it is likely that BSV is being deleted at least in part due to Wright’s attacks on Twitter user[s].”

With Binance having made its announcement, with the delisting scheduled for April 22, other exchanges and services have since followed suit. Blockchain announced it would cease support for BSV in its Blockchain Wallet by May 15, while ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees tweeted that his exchange stands with Binance’s sentiments and that his exchange would delist BSV with 48 hours. Kraken is likely to also follow suit, asking customers in a poll whether they should delist BSV. As of 8:30 p.m. EDT, 73% of more than 49,000 people who had voted said yes.

One important aspect of any cryptocurrency relates to liquidity. Without liquidity — that is, the ability for it to be easily traded — demand slumps and so does a cryptocurrency’s price. That’s the abyss BSV is currently staring down as top exchanges delist it. The market knows this and punished BSV heavily.

BSV was down 17%, to $59.44, as of 8:30 p.m. EDT, near a historic low.

The main winner from the announcement was rival Bitcoin Cash, which was trading up 8.5%, to $318.84, as those exiting BSV looked to park their money elsewhere.

Photo: BitcoinXio/Wikimedia Commons

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