Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Bashes CoinDesk And Boycotts Its Consensus Conference

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder took a blow at the blockchain and cryptocurrency news channel, CoinDesk for posting the link to a fraudulent website in its article on OmiseGo cryptocurrency. Furthermore, Buterin is boycotting the popular Consensus conference event hosted by CoinDesk while encouraging others to do the same.

Vitalik strikes CoinDesk with “recklessly complicit in enabling giveaway scams”

On Thursday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on Twitter that he is boycotting the Consensus 2018 conference to be held in May by CoinDesk while encouraging others to do the same. He further stated that the blockchain and cryptocurrency media channel is “recklessly complicit in enabling giveaway scams.”

I am boycotting @coindesk’s Consensus 2018 conference this year, and strongly encourage others to do the same. Here is my reasoning why.

1. Coindesk is recklessly complicit in enabling giveaway scams. See their latest article on OMG, which *directly links* to a giveaway scam. pic.twitter.com/WDr9uZ8XOw

— Vitalik “Not giving away ETH” Buterin (@VitalikButerin) April 26, 2018

Buterin was driven to make the tweet because of CoinDesk’s blog on OMG cryptocurrency regarding its surge in prices in the wake of its Bithumb listing, where he points out, contains a direct link to a fraudulent website. Since then, the link has been removed from the article and a correction note has been added at the bottom stating that CoinDesk regrets the error:

“This article has been updated to remove a link to a fraudulent website that was misrepresenting OmiseGo in an effort to scam users.”

Buterin just didn’t stop there, he further tweeted that CoinDesk’s “coverage of EIP 999 was terrible.” He mentioned that the media channel “published a highly sensationalist article claiming the chain would split, when it was very clear that EIP 999 was *very far* from acceptance.”

Also, read: Binance CEO In Trouble: Changpeng Zhao Sued By Sequoia Capital Over Fallen Deal

CoinDesk claims a reporting error

In response to Vitalik’s tweet, the CEO of CoinDesk, Kevin Worth said in a statement to Business Insider:

“We are disappointed to learn of Vitalik’s tweet today regarding a CoinDesk reporting error, for which we apologize. We strive to maintain the highest level of unbiased, ethical journalism in order to provide the best possible coverage of the blockchain industry.”

The Consensus conference of CoinDesk is a popular event that is attended by about thousands of people and hundreds of speakers from the crypto market. This time the event would also include Jack Dorsey and Amber Baldet along with many regulators and politicians as well.

For not attending the Consensus conference, Buterin further commented that the cost to attend the conference is too high: “the conference costs $2-3k to attend. I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent-seeking.”

With the scams rampant in the crypto industry, this kind of behavior certainly calls for a more cautious approach so not to harm the interests of the investors.

Do you think Vitalik was right to bash CoinDesk? Share your thoughts with us!