Bitmain, Roger Ver, Kraken Sued for Alleged Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork Manipulation

Published at: Dec. 7, 2018

Florida-based United American Corp. (UnitedCorp) has purportedly filed a lawsuit against Bitmain, Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver, and the Kraken Bitcoin Exchange, according to a press release published Dec. 6. UnitedCorp alleges that the defendants planned a scheme to take control of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network.

Founded in 1992, UnitedCorp is a development and management firm with a focus on telecommunications and information technologies. The company manages a portfolio of patents and proprietary technology in telecoms, social media and blockchain. UnitedCorp also owns and operates BlockchainDomes stations, that provide heat for agricultural applications.

The suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleges that the defendants jointly used unfair methods and practices to manipulate the BCH network for their benefit and detriment of UnitedCorp and other BCH stakeholders. The release further specifies:

“UnitedCorp believes that the defendants colluded to effectively hijack the Bitcoin Cash network after the November 15, 2018 scheduled software update with the intent of centralizing the network — all in violation of the accepted standards and protocols associated with Bitcoin since its inception.”

On Nov. 15, the BCH network underwent an update, which divided the community into two main camps, those who support Bitcoin Cash ABC and those who support Bitcoin Cash SV. UnitedCorp states that the defendants took control of the coin’s network right after the upgrade using “rented hashing.” This allegedly led to the adoption of Bitcoin ABC rule sets, precluding other implantations from maintaining a democratic rule sets.

UnitedCorp also alleges that on Nov. 20 the Bitcoin ABC development team put a “poison pill” into the blockchain by way of a “Deep Reorg Prevention” in order to strengthen control over the blockchain ledger. The move allegedly enables maintenance of control on implementations for future network updates.

The suit seeks injunctive relief against the defendants and the cessation of perceived ongoing actions against the BCH network now and in the future. Additionally, UnitedCorp seeks compensation, the value of which it claims will be determined at trial.

Bitcoin Cash has registered major losses on the day. The altcoin is down by over 20 percent over the last 24 hours and is trading at around $103 at press time, according to CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin SV (BSV), in turn, has seen noteable daily gains of over 27 percent, and is trading around $112 at press time. BSV’s maximum supply is 21 million, while its market capitalization is around $1.9 billion at press time.

Tags
Altcoin
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin Cash
Bitmain
Kraken
Hard Fork
Roger Ver
Related Posts
Kraken Begins Bitcoin Cash SV Trading but Says Users Face ‘Extremely High Risk’
Major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Kraken confirmed in a blog post Nov. 18 that it had begun supporting both forks of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), while warning traders about “many red flags.” Kraken, which initially said it would only support only one of the two BCH chains – Bitcoin Cash ABC – has at press time already launched trading of its counterpart chain, Bitcoin Cash SV (BSV). The product of a contentious hard fork of the BCH network Nov. 15, Bitcoin Cash SV currently sits at the center of controversy over BCH miner coercion, with major proponent Craig Wright and his company …
Altcoin / Nov. 19, 2018
Opposing Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV Factions’ Debates Grow Heated as the Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork Draws Closer
Born out of the original Bitcoin blockchain on August 1, 2017, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has split the cryptocurrency community into warring factions with their own arguments, verbal skirmishes, leaders, convictions and occasional get-togethers. On November 15, BCH developers are preparing to undergo its next hard fork, a split of the blockchain, which can give birth to new tokens named Bitcoin SV (Satoshi’s Vision), Bitcoin Unlimited and Bitcoin ABC. How Bitcoin Cash appeared The Bitcoin evolution has been constantly debated within the developers community, who had opposing views on what technology to implement and what rewards miners should receive. In July …
Altcoin / Nov. 13, 2018
Hours After Bitcoin Cash Network Update Begins, Bitcoin ABC Over 10 Blocks Ahead
The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network update, which many predicted would lead to a hard fork, began as scheduled today, Nov. 15. At press time, Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin Unlimited are currently leading Bitcoin SV in terms of both hash rate and number of nodes, according to Coin.Dance. Under the new consensus rules, 41 blocks have been already mined, wherein Bitcoin ABC is 12 blocks ahead. The update has led cryptocurrency exchanges around the world to suspend BCH trading and withdrawals. The news about the protocol upgrade has divided the BCH community in two camps as there are two dominating proposals …
Altcoin / Nov. 15, 2018
Bitcoin Cash Spikes 20 Percent in the Wake of Upcoming Hard Fork Backed by Binance
Sunday, Nov. 4: crypto markets have seen a lot movement today, with most of the top 20 coins by market cap seeing significant growth, and with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) spiking almost 21 percent by press time. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin Cash, the fourth top cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has grown sharply from $473 at the beginning of the day to as high as $573 as of press time, which is the highest trading point of the cryptocurrency over the past month. Trading around $420 for the most part of the week, Bitcoin Cash started this upward trend on Nov. …
Bitcoin Price / Nov. 4, 2018
Bitcoin Cash Celebrates Its First Birthday: From a Hard Fork to Easy Going
One year ago to the day, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) came into existence after a hard fork from the Bitcoin blockchain. It has been an interesting 12 months since the fork gave birth to BCH, as proponents have continuously argued the merits between Bitcoin (BTC) and BCH. Nevertheless, on the anniversary of the creation of Bitcoin Cash, it is worth revisiting what caused this altcoin to come into existence and what it aimed to do. How did we get here Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin’s user base has steadily grown over the better part of a decade. In the past …
Bitcoin / Aug. 1, 2018