Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin to Boycott CoinDesk’s Consensus Conference

April 28, 2018 at 5:45 pm This article is more than 4 years old

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Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin to Boycott CoinDesk’s Consensus Conference

A statement by Vitalik Buterin on April 26 shows his displeasure with the online cryptocurrency news platform, CoinDesk. Buterin bashes the crypto news outlet for taking some past issues lightly while promoting competitors and scam projects, and announces a boycott of the outlet’s annual event, Consensus.

CoinDesk Report Links to Giveaway Scam

In a series of tweets, Vitalik says he was boycotting CoinDesk‘s Consensus 2018 event and is also encouraging other participants to do the same for some reasons which he apparently defines.

To start with, he was okay with risk on social media saying things as it is though, even if it attracts some enemies. “I’ve decided I’m more okay than before with taking risks with my social capital and occasionally having enemies,” said Buterin.

In a bid to further express his feelings about certain situations, Vitalik highlights the following as reasons for boycotting Consensus conference:

First of all, he said CoinDesk was “recklessly complicit in enabling giveaway scams,” when referring to a publication which had a link redirecting readers to a scam site.
Secondly, he referred to their coverage on the EIP-999 as “terrible,” and that it was high time pundits gets replaced by the prediction markets.

2. Their coverage of EIP 999 was terrible. They published a highly sensationalist article claiming the chain would split, when it was very clear that EIP 999 was *very far* from acceptance.

This is why pundits need to be replaced by prediction markets, ASAP. pic.twitter.com/6A7OWlx0nR

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 26, 2018

Concluding his tweet, Vitalik was indifferent about why the event should cost so much, between $2,000 and $3,000 and said he was personally not going to “contribute to that level of rent-seeking.”

4. And by the way, the conference costs $2-3k to attend. I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent seeking.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 26, 2018

CoinDesk Apologies for the Error

Responding to the Tweet by Buterin, the Chief Executive of CoinDesk, Kevin Worth in a statement to Business Insider said:

“We were disappointed to learn of Vitalik’s tweet today regarding a CoinDesk reporting error, for which we apologize. One of our reporters included an unverified link in an article; we quickly identified the error and fixed it.”

Furthering his statement, Worth added that CoinDesk “strives to maintain the highest level of unbiased, ethical journalism to provide the best possible coverage of the blockchain industry.”

Omkar Godbole, the author of the publication that contained the unverified link, also apologized, yet was unable to please Ethereum co-founder Buterin. Godbole tweeted “Error rectified. Kindly accept my apologies for the error.”

CoinDesk‘s Consensus happens to be one of the most significant events for blockchain enthusiasts. The which is to hold sometime in May 2018 will feature over 250 speakers and above 4,000 participants from leading financial startups, tech enterprises, financial institutions, investors, and academic and policy groups from around the world.

The well-known publication has been criticized in the past for its links to cryptocurrency projects through its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), which is significantly invested in Ethereum Classic, the original version of the Ethereum blockchain that did not roll back the DAO hack in July 2016. Moreover, CoinDesk‘s also has an incentive to present Zcash in a favorable light, given that DCG is also heavily invested in this blockchain project. Consequently, some perceive the crypto-media outlet’s reporting as skewed.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson also backed up Buterin by stating his intention to boycott Consensus 2018. Hoskinson has made it clear many times in the past that several crypto-media outlets have not mentioned Cardano and ignored his project completely.