According to CEO of Bitcoin.com, BTC is Gold, BSV is Scam, and BCH is Money

The recently appointed CEO of Bitcoin.com Stefan Rust learned about Bitcoin in 2012, when a developer from Guatemala asked him to pay in BTC. Unlike many early adopters, Rust didn’t think it was a nonsense at the time.

“Instant with no fees. I transferred bitcoins to that guy during a Skype call. Live in real time”.

In winter 2013 Rust then organized a first bitcoin meetup in Hong Kong in a local bar/restaurant. It was standing room only with people listening and watching from outside in. The whole bar was fully packed.

“I’ve loved Bitcoin from that day on”.

Before joining Bitcoin.com, a controversial website owned by Roger Ver, Stefan Rust co-founded a non-bitcoin startup Exicon to provide major corporations like Sony, Oracle and Qualcomm with developer and application management services.

“I joined Bitcoin.com in February and secured three deals in two months. Then Roger asked me to become a CEO”.

In an exclusive interview with ForkLog Stefan Rust shares his views on Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Cash controversy, reveals his thoughts about Bitcoin SV and Craig Wright and explains why he decided to move his wealth from BTC to BCH.

ForkLog: If you had to choose between BTC and BCH to invest 90% of your wealth for two years, what coin would you choose?

Stefan: Bitcoin Cash for sure. Most of my wealth is in BCH now. I moved it from BTC.

ForkLog: Bitcoin.com offers me to buy BCH and something that is called Bitcoin Core. By the looks of it, Bitcoin Cash is positioned as the real Bitcoin, which could be misleading for the newbies.

Stefan: I personally don’t think it’s that misleading. When people come to Bitcoin, they usually want to make a small investment. They want to test it out and feel it. They’re not gonna come with $1 ml to buy BCH with their credit card. They will come with $100 or $500, maybe $1000. Bitcoin Cash is a lot more affordable to buy a whole unit or two or four. That’s the early entry into it.

We believe that Bitcoin Cash is more like peer-to-peer cash system.

ForkLog: It’s a “yes or no” question. Do you consider Bitcoin Cash a store of value?

Stefan: As well, yes.

ForkLog: And what about the payments?

Stefan: [laughing] Of course, it’s a store of value. Every currency and cryptocurrency has a percentage of a store of value. I view Bitcoin Core [BTC or Bitcoin] as gold and Bitcoin Cash as money.

ForkLog: If everyone holds BCH, who will use it for payments?

Stefan: We introduced a Simple Ledger Protocol, which allows you to create tokens for special purposes, interests and communities. If you want to keep BCH, create a currency and build a value around it, make it popular for payments within a community.

ForkLog: Bitcoin.com says BCH is for payments and you say I need to build a token over the protocol to make payments. That could be really hard for newbies to understand.

Stefan: It’s definitely not for newbies. We are talking more about developers and enthusiasts, who are not gonna be newbies anymore. They want to trade it and participate in value creation.

Today you can already buy coffee, pay for your hotels, haircuts and taxi fares using Bitcoin Cash. It’s real payments to retailers who want low fees and fast transactions. To scale though for the immediate short term, retailers do want to settle in fiat in existing bank accounts as they don’t like the volatility. This will change over time.

ForkLog: For the last couple of years Roger Ver has been repeating that “Bitcoin Cash is real Bitcoin” mantra. To make things clear, do you agree with it?

Being the chain originating from the genesis block with the highest accumulated proof of work is only one of the metrics that makes Bitcoin Bitcoin.

Edit and decide for yourself which has more Bitcoin-ness: https://t.co/lldt4n2W4C pic.twitter.com/FnZGye39cF — Roger Ver (@rogerkver) April 27, 2018

Stefan: I started in BTC back in 2012. A lot of the team that joined Bitcoin.com also started in BTC. We are all now in BCH. So I think that can tell you what our view is.

ForkLog: Say this!

Stefan: Yeah, I definitely think that Bitcoin Cash is the p2p electronic cash system that the world and I am looking for.

ForkLog: Because it reflects the white paper idea?

Stefan: It meets the core principles of building p2p cash system. Instant payments with no fees. I can’t do this in Bitcoin Core [BTC or Bitcoin].

ForkLog: If you strictly follow the white paper, it makes the project centralized around the idea of one man. It has to be a p2p cash system and nothing else. Don’t you agree with this? Could there be risks to decentralization by excluding experiments out of the concept?

Stefan: There are up to 60 ml people in crypto. We have 7 bl people on the planet. How are we going to get the rest of the people decide which cryptocurrency they want to buy? It’s not about us and you and me. We’ve already made our decisions. We’ve already invested.

We need to convince 6 bl people to come into and choose if they want BTC or BCH. If you want Ethereum go ahead and buy it. It’s a democracy. If you don’t like it, I’m OK with that.

ForkLog: Do you agree that p2p cash system must be censorship resistant?

Stefan: Definitely.

ForkLog: Bitcoin Cash hashrate is a little over 2 EH/s right now and Bitcoin’s is over 87 Eh/s. The latter is more secure network, isn’t it?

Stefan: But the network runs the same centralized software stack build by one single entity.

ForkLog: It’s just democracy.

Stefan: Exactly, they all chose it, but it’s centralized. In Bitcoin Cash miners can choose among six software stacks to run.

ForkLog: I think they won the market competition [in Bitcoin].

Stefan: In essence the miners decide what software they want to run.

ForkLog: And most miners decided to stay on Bitcoin.

Stefan: The miners on Bitcoin chose Blockstream as a single software provider.

ForkLog: Do you think Blockstream is a mafia?

Stefan: I’m not saying that. I love Bitcoin Core software developers, because a lot of it is also in Bitcoin Cash.

ForkLog: After the Bitcoin Cash hard fork in May the two biggest pools conducted a 51% attack on BCH chain to not let a bad guy to steal funds. Intentions seems to be good, but it proves that BCH chain is not censorship resistant. Do you agree?

‼️#BCH /#bcash was hit by 51% attack from just 2 miners, https://t.co/gZNf6P1G3l & https://t.co/2gkV6KUcCt

– & no one seems to be talking about it. 🤨 Thread 👇🏻 1/ What I’ve gathered from loose details:

First, there was an unintentional split with the recent #BCH “upgrade.” — Guy Swann ⚡[Pay me in Bitcoin] (@TheCryptoconomy) May 24, 2019

Stefan: I don’t know enough about that.

[Later Stefan said that he disagreed, but didn’t mention why]

ForkLog: In April only one account made 49% of all BCH transactions. It repeated the same transaction – 0,0000132 BCH. It looked like a spam to make the network look more active than it actually was. What’s your take on this?

Stefan: I don’t know enough about that.

ForkLog: Let’s switch to quick yes or no questions. It’s my favourite part. Do you consider Bitcoin SV a scam?

Stefan: [laughing] What is your definition of a scam?

ForkLog: Roger Ver isn’t afraid of calling Craig Wright a liar and a fraud. As a CEO of Bitcoin.com do you consider Bitcoin SV a scam?

Stefan: [sighing] Yes. If I have to choose between yes or no, yes.

[According to Stefan, BSV is looking to be the blockchain for governments, because its supporters are constantly talking pro government and regulators].

ForkLog: Perfect. Do you consider Craig Wright a liar?

Stefan: [laughing] Well, yes.

ForkLog: Are you aware of toxic Bitcoin maximalists community?

Stefan: Yes.

ForkLog: Say something to them.

Stefan: Freedom of speech! They have the right to voice their opinions. Go ahead!

ForkLog: Roger Ver once said: «Maybe I was fooled by Craig Wright». Is it possible that in the future Mr. Ver will say: «I was fooled about big blocks?».

Stefan: No.

ForkLog: What consequences will bring the obviously approaching financial crisis for bitcoin and crypto market on the whole?

Stefan: Bitcoin was launched in 2008, when we had a big financial crisis. I think the next financial meltdown will encourage people to use cryptocurrencies. We will see a surge in demand, which will ultimately lead to rise in prices. I don’t think that it will be only one cryptocurrency, it’s about many cryptocurrencies.

ForkLog: Do you remember my question about investing 90% of your wealth? You chose BCH. Let’s imagine that it happened on August 1st, 2017. You would have lost over 30% with the BCH bet. If you would have chosen BTC, you had earned 200%. Any thoughts on that?

Stefan: We are here for the long term. We are here to build value making money work for everyone. It’s not about the short term quick buck.

ForkLog: But BTC bet was better on August 1st, 2017.

Stefan: Yes, if you are here for a short term trading.

ForkLog: Are two years a short trade?

Stefan: I don’t know… [laughing]. It depends when you got in. If you got in on that day and you still hold, maybe it’s a good turnout. If you bought in January, 2018, what about it? Then you are probably not doing well? You will be crying. A lot of people are still passionate about crypto anyway. They are in.

ForkLog: So, you don’t tolerate the shitcoin concept?

Stefan: I believe in alternative coins. I don’t call them shitcoins.

ForkLog: The Bitcoin dominance is rising. Will altcoins survive?

Stefan: Some will survive, some will thrive and some will become obsolete and will disappear. The upside is going to be in altcoins.

Stefan Rust was interviewed by Nick Schteringard on October 10th, 2019 during WDMS hosted by Bitmain in Frankfurt

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