Bitcoin.com executive chairman Roger Ver has brushed aside assertions that his website laid off 50% of its workforce, labeling the claims “more Bcash FUD.”
Several cryptocurrency news outlets reported the layoff news after a post appeared on Candor, a site that purports to list jobs lost in response to the coronavirus.
Problems with Candor’s methods
However, Candor’s list is entirely user-generated, meaning anyone can list job layoff statistics from companies they have nothing to do with. Judging by Ver’s recent posts on the r/btc subreddit (which he also moderates), that appears to have been the case regarding Bitcoin.com.
When asked to clear up reports that 50% of Bitcoin.com staff had lost their jobs, Ver gave the terse reply:
“More Bcash FUD.”
The term ‘Bcash’ is used in a derogative fashion by members of the Bitcoin community who disagree with Bitcoin Cash’s aims. ‘FUD’ stands for fear, uncertainty and doubt.
The layoff claims come amidst a changeover in personnel at Bitcoin.com, with outgoing CEO Stefan Rust being replaced by Mate Tokay, previously COO at the organization.
The same claims may have been fuelled by the wording of Stefan Rust’s goodbye post, in which he suggested Roger Ver intended to trim down the size of Bitcoin.com’s team. Rust wrote: “Given these roller-coaster times we are in, Roger is looking at a leaner, more guerilla, team.”
‘Bitcoin Jesus’: block reward halving is non-event
In a YouTube video from April 5th, Ver (aka Bitcoin Jesus) poured cold water on the prospect of the BCH coin price exploding in response to the upcoming block reward halving (now 2 days away). Ver said:
“The last two times, basically nothing happened at all. It was a non-event; it wasn’t exciting at all, and that’s my prediction for what’s going to happen this time as well. But we’re just a couple of days away, so stay tuned and see what happens with that.”
The upcoming halving will see Bitcoin Cash block rewards halved from 12.5 BCH per block, to 6.25 per block. Bitcoin’s own block reward halving is 37 days away, and will see miners’ block rewards reduced by the same ratio.