The co-founder of the Ethereum network, Vitalik Buterin, has made some waves in cryptocurrency circles. Specifically, Buterin recently said that Bitcoin Cash is “not Bitcoin”. This comes as part of the long-running debate over what Bitcoin variant is the “true” Bitcoin.

Buterin: Bitcoin Cash is not Bitcoin

This came in response to another Twitter user, Brad Mills, who sent a tweet tagging Buterin. In it, Mills wrote that Buterin “promotes the fraudluent [sic] Bcash narrative “Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin” because it helps ETH.” Mills also proposed that Buterin is through this consciously attempting to “weaken” Bitcoin’s image.

“He knows giving attention to BCH is a tactic to weaken the Bitcoin brand. It’s his revenge for bitcoiners supporting ETC & trolling him relentlessly.”

Nevertheless, Buterin shut down this speculation with a succinct tweet. In it, he simply said that “Bitcoin Cash is not Bitcoin”. As such, the Ethereum co-founder is shooting down Mills’ suggestions that he would be promoting Bitcoin Cash.

There is long-running debate between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash

These comments come as part of the ongoing struggle between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. This debate has gone on since the 2017 hard fork that saw Bitcoin splinter into two coins, Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Furthermore, supporters of both coins try to claim the right and name to the “original” Bitcoin. For example, supporters of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) sometimes refer to BCH as “Bitcoin” and to BTC as “Bitcoin Core”.

Since the 2017 hard fork, things have become even more unclear with the addition of Bitcoin Gold (BTG) from a Bitcoin (BTC) hard fork, and in 2018 Bitcoin SV (BSV) from a Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork.

Buterin said BCH was a “legitimate contender” for Bitcoin name in 2017

This provides some background to Buterin’s recent comment. However, Buterin has not always been of the view that “Bitcoin Cash is not Bitcoin”. In 2017, Buterin sent a tweet suggesting that Bitcoin Cash could be a “legitimate contender” for the Bitcoin name:

“I consider BCH a legitimate contender for the Bitcoin name. I consider Bitcoin’s *failure* to raise block sizes to keep fees reasonable to be a large (non-consensual) change to the “original plan”, morally tantamount to a hard fork.”

With that said, Buterin went on to add that he did not believe Bitcoin Cash “was” Bitcoin at that time either. “That said, *right now*, I think trying to claim ‘BCH = Bitcoin’ is a bad idea, as it *is* a minority opinion in the ‘greater Bitcoin community’,” Buterin wrote in 2017.

Consequently, it would appear that Buterin is now solidifying his position that Bitcoin Cash is, as some would argue, not the “true” Bitcoin. This view likely serves to reduce uncertainty regarding which Bitcoin variant (BTC vs BCH) is which.