Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin just revealed he is boycotting CoinDesk’s Consensus 2018 conference, an event seen by some as one of the most important in the cryptocurrency space.
On Twitter, the 24-year-old encouraged others not to attend the conference as well, citing a number of reasons. The first referred to an article the news outlet published, which linked to a fraudulent page attempting to dupe OmiseGo (OMG) investors.
I am boycotting @coindesk's Consensus 2018 conference this year, and strongly encourage others to do the same. Here is my reasoning why.
1. Coindesk is recklessly complicit in enabling giveaway scams. See their latest article on OMG, which *directly links* to a giveaway scam. pic.twitter.com/WDr9uZ8XOw
— Vitalik “Not giving away ETH” Buterin (@VitalikButerin) April 26, 2018
The article has since been fixed, with the fraudulent link being removed. The cryptocurrency community has recently been dealing with scammers asking investors to send them over funds, promising high returns. As covered, some scammers on Twitter even keep swapping the names of their hijacked verified accounts.
The second reason Buterin cited was poor coverage of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 999. Per the cryptocurrency’s inventor, the piece CoinDesk published on it was “highly sensationalist,” and didn’t include comments the author asked for.
CoinDesk is owned by the Digital Currency Group, headed by Barry Silbert, a known Ethereum Classic (ETC) supporter. Some claim the news outlet is biased in its coverage of Ethereum, so as to shine a good light on Ethereum Classic.
Vitalik’s third reason involved the news outlet’s reporting policies. He stated:
“Their reporting policies are designed to trap you with gotchas. Did you know that if you send them a reply, and you explicitly say that some part is off the record, that's explicitly on the record unless you go through a request/approve dance first?”
Finally, Vitalik addressed how much it costs to attend the Consensus conference. Per his words, it costs between $2,000 and $3,000 to attend the event, a price he refuses to pay to not contribute to “that level of rent seeking.”
This year’s Consensus conference is set to host 5,000 people, with speakers including Amber Baldet, the former blockchain head at JP Morgan, and Square and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, a known bitcoin supporter.
In response to Vitalik Buterin’s words, CoinDesk’s chief executive Kevin Worth told Business Insider the organization was disappointed with his views on its reporting error, and apologized for the mistake. It’s worth noting that, according to Market Watch, Buterin is credited with co-founding a rival cryptocurrency news outlet in 2011.
Featured image by TechCrunch | Flickr | CC by 2.0
