TL;DR: BTC maximalists are once again applying purity tests, this time attempting a cancel campaign against Forbes Bitcoin contributor Kyle Torpey for daring to inch ever-so-closely to heresy. Torpey’s recent article on Ethereum transaction fees surpassing those of BTC, along with yet another heretical step in profiling a supposedly unhackable exchange, triggered self-appointed Defenders of the BTC Maxi Faith: Tone Vays, Jimmy Song, and Giacomo Zucco.

Forbes Bitcoin Contributor “Cancelled” by Maximalists

“I can’t believe @kyletorpey wrote this,” a clearly stricken Zucco posted. “Even if it was not for the shameless shitcoin promotion (ETH, NEO, just Onecoin missing, too bad), the title alone is something one wouldn’t think could ever be associated with such a name, historically a guarantee of good content. Sad.”

The “shamless shitcoin promotion” was most likely referencing, though it’s somewhat unclear, Torpey’s column from late last month, This Cryptocurrency Just Surpassed Bitcoin In One Key Adoption Metric (Torpey, however, believes Zucco was unaware of this particular column at the time). In any event, Torpey’s contention there amounted to how “Ethereum briefly passed Bitcoin in one key area last week: total daily USD-denominated transaction fees. In fact, Ethereum miners collected more in fees than Bitcoin miners on this past Saturday and Sunday too,” a number normally associated with usage and relative popularity.

It’s filled with hedging and is seemingly tame by most reasonable standards. Hey, this happened; not sure if it’s really all that significant. “If an article about Ethereum transaction fees surpassing Bitcoin’s,” Torpey told CoinSpice via Telegram, “that ends with pointing out it probably doesn’t mean much for the ETH token itself triggers some Bitcoiners too hard, I’m really not sure what can be done for them.”

Heretic Asked to Repent

BTC maxis on the Zucco thread berated Torpey, wondering about his ultimate allegiances and motives. Steak dinner aficionados Tone Vays and Jimmy Song took Torpey’s apparent apostasy further, demanding the Forbes columnist apologize for his lapses in keeping with BTC maxi orthodoxy. Vays refers to Torpey as “one of our writers” he “used to respect” who is now given to “writing some questionable things,” pointing to Torpey’s story on an exchange claiming to be unhackable.

That too reads fairly straight-forward and uncontroversial in context. Referencing the piece in particular, posted just days ago, Torpey noted to CoinSpice “it’s clear Tone […] didn’t read it.” He went on to call the drama “confusing and weird, but I don’t expect an apology. I’d rather just get back to work.” Torpey stressed how the pair agreed he “was too proud to admit my mistakes based on an article where I had already made a correction, literally admitting my mistake. So yeah I guess I would just recommend they read articles before they comment on them for their show.”

Sure enough, at least Vays admitted to not reading the entirety of the articles he criticized, with Vays scrolling up and down, suggesting he only “skimmed” them. That, of course, does not get in the way of BTC maxis. Their solemn self-imposed duty is to guard The Truth independent of pesky facts and nuance. The burden of reading an entire online article is obviously a heavy one.

*Collin Enstad contributed sourcing for this article.

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