Twitter Suspends Roger Ver’s @Bitcoin, and Suddenly a Turkish Man Owns the Handle

What happened with @Bitcoin on Twitter that was always a contentious Bitcoin Cash account.

Mon, 9/04/2018 - 14:37

Twitter Suspends Roger Ver’s @Bitcoin, and Suddenly a Turkish Man Owns the Handle

Cover image via U.Today

In an interesting, still unfolding saga, the Twitter handle @Bitcoin, a well known Bitcoin Cash handle that was owned by Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver, has been suspended, and reinstated a few times, but also since then, landed up in a few random hands.

It has led to Ver crying out that his freedom of speech has been infringed, but it has also caused quite a commotion from both sides of the Bitcoin-Bitcoin Cash debate.

Free speech dies

Twitter briefly suspended @Bitcoin which led to Ver crying out on his own Twitter account that free speech had died.

So this is how free speech dies...with thunderous applause.@bitcoin https://t.co/TMZc0EWoIx
— Roger Ver (@rogerkver) April 8, 2018

Bitcoin Cash fans have since argued that the Twitter suspension was the result of a coordinated effort by Bitcoin supporters. The suspension has since chained a number of social media altercations between BCH and BTC proponents.

One of those who fired back, mockingly, at Ver, was Litecoin’s founder, Charlie Lee.

Oh snap! @bitcoin ???? pic.twitter.com/yGcIcioxC6
— Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite) April 8, 2018

He also gained support from Bitcoin engineer, Jameson Lopp who responded directly to Ver’s free speech tweet.

Freedom of speech means that the government won't throw you in a cage for saying something it doesn't condone. Freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want on someone else's property.
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) April 8, 2018

From Turkey to Moscow

Since Verlost control of the handle, it ended up in the possession of an anonymous user with a picture of a jaguar.

Judging by the tweets, the person was likely from Turkey. He managed to get more than 2,500 followers within an hour. Unfortunately, his 15 minutes of fame ended when Twitter decided to suspend the account again.

This random that took over the @bitcoin account must think twitter is the coolest thing ever. He logs on and within an hour has 2500 followers, says hello and gets 1000 likes... pic.twitter.com/Zfjllxc1WU
— Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) April 8, 2018

As it stands now, @Bitcoin belongs to someone who says in their Bio: “My name is Andrei from Moscow Russia.”

Now certain Andrei from Moscow, Russia seems to be owning @Bitcoin

About the author

Darryn Pollock

Darryn Pollock is an award winning journalist from Durban, South Africa. He picked up Vodacom’s Regional Sports Journalist Award in 2017 while expanding his Blockchain and cryptocurrency reach. He is a contributor to Forbes, Cointelegraph, Binary District, and of course, U.Today. Darryn’s belief is that Blockchain technology will be the driving force of the next technological wave and it is the obligation of journalists and writers to tell its emerging story with integrity and pride.