Bitcoin SV grabs the headlines every once in a while. Led by the ever-so-controversial Craig Wright, the project is barely three months old, but it has already made more news than many other projects.
This time, it was for the worst possible reason. A user of the Bitcoin SV blockchain embedded a child abuse image. The image was discovered on Bitcoinfiles.org, a website that enables its users to view documents on blockchains. The site was responsible enough to take down the image hurriedly before it could spread to more users. However, the damage had already been done.
The user who uploaded the image took advantage of a recent increase in the data limit that one can upload to Bitcoin SV’s blockchain. He used Money Button’s service to upload the obscene image. Money Button is a digital currency payments service catering to mobile applications and websites. It’s partly funded by nChain, the company behind Bitcoin SV.
Shortly after the image surfaced, Bitcoinfiles.org and Money Button worked together to take down the image. And it doesn’t end there, Ryan Charles, the founder of Money Button told BBC. According to him, criminals seem unaware about just how easy it is to track a blockchain user. Charles pledged to assist in tracking down the criminal for prosecution. Already, Money Button has shared the information about the uploader to the authorities.
An Enemy Attack or Just a Common Criminal
Eric Ertsu, the founder of Cryptograffiti believes that tracking down the criminal will not be too difficult. Cryptograffiti is a site that lets its users read messages embedded on blockchain networks. He stated:
As for law enforcement, they have to do the good old detective work in hope of tracking down the person who uploaded the illegal content on the blockchain. Since everything you do on the blockchain is immutable, tracking down criminals is not too difficult.
As the authorities strived to track down the person who uploaded the image, another debate was taking center stage. Was this the work of Bitcoin SV’s enemies or was he just a common everyday criminal? Not surprisingly, many in the Bitcoin SV community believe this is the work of an enemy faction.
One of these is Craig Wright, the equally loved and loathed Bitcoin SV leader. Wright took to Twitter to call out The Next Web, the first media outlet that reported on the issue. The chief scientist at nChain demanded that the outlet take down the article which he said had an accusing tone. He further threatened legal action on the outlet. This later became the subject of a heated online exchange between him and the outlet’s chief editor.
Jimmy Nguyen, the CEO of nChain took a progressive stance, branding the incident as random. BSV’s blockchain is like any other and it allows any user to post anything. This means that every once in a while, a criminal will post something obscene or illegal. It’s the price we have to pay for the freedom that decentralized networks give us.
He stated:
The same is true for the internet and is true for the Bitcoin Core (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-ABC), Ethereum and other cryptocurrency networks – on which illegal content likely already lives
Image(s): Shutterstock.com
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