Bitcoin Tweets of the Week: Forking Drama and Black Monday

Bitcoin XT and Black Monday – CoinDesk takes a look at the topics that have dominated the bitcoin Twittersphere over the past week.

AccessTimeIconAug 25, 2015 at 10:16 a.m. UTC
Updated Aug 18, 2021 at 4:08 p.m. UTC

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With the bitcoin fork debate still raging, it is hardly surprising it has been a hot topic on social media over the past week.

Twitter was awash with comments featuring both sides of the camp – those in favour and those against Bitcoin XT, the software fork that seeks to resolve the digital currency's scalability issue by increasing the size of blocks.

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  • On the other hand, Black Monday – which saw Chinese stock markets plummet to an eight year low and panic spread throughout the rest of the world's stock markets – also resulted in some Twitter chatter, enabling those bullish on bitcoin to share their largely positive outlook on the digital currency.

    #BitcoinXT

    The mainstream media dubbed the bitcoin fork a "civil war" and a "constitutional crisis", but some crypto enthusiasts were no less critical.

    — Greg Slepak (@taoeffect) August 21, 2015

    Although slightly less harsh, Oleg Andreev also voiced his disagreement.

    — Oleg Andreev (@oleganza) August 20, 2015

    Globetrotting entrepreneur and activist Roger Ver – popularly known as Bitcoin Jesus – on the other hand, took to Twitter to encourage people to install Bitcoin XT.

    Meanwhile, bitcoin evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos attempted to weigh down the drama by highlighting the significance of the network's diversity and flexibility.

    All the fork drama is really overblown. Diversity is good and bitcoin is resilient. Consensus will converge on the correct answer. — AndreasMAntonopoulos (@aantonop) August 20, 2015

    Antonopoulos was not the only one focusing on the positive, however, as others also used the opportunity to praise the digital currency's decentralised nature.

    The blocksize is a minor issue; what matters is #Bitcoin's ability to govern itself. Unable to evolve is worse than unable to scale. — Emin Gün Sirer (@el33th4xor) August 16, 2015

    — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) August 24, 2015

    #BlackMonday

    As most people focused on the world's financial markets, watching as hundreds of billions disappeared from stock markets, others continued to focus on bitcoin and its potential. Bitcoin enthusiasts began to ask questions about the potential effects – whether negative or positive – on their beloved digital currency.

    — Magnr (@magnr) August 24, 2015

    Whether good or bad, some seemed to use the news to make a stance against non bitcoin believers, seemingly poking fun at fiat currency supporters who may have been affected by the troubles of the financial markets.

    With things still not looking good for the world economy, one Twitter user reflected on whether the cryptocurrency's fervent supporters would speak out in defence of bitcoin and its price.

    With his tweet, it seems Melton is referring to the fact some people previously used economic downturns to publicly promote the digital currency.

    A clear example of this took place a couple of months ago, when the bitcoin bulls came out in full force following the implementation of capital controls in Greece. Despite pundits at the time claiming the digital currency's price was being driven upwards by events in the Southern European country, the extent to which this is true remains to be seen. This, however, did not deter the enthusiasm of bitcoin aficionados who continued to pump the digital currency.

    — Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 24, 2015

    Others attempted to set the record straight, providing a serious definition of the cryptocurrency.

    — Nick Szabo (@NickSzabo4) August 25, 2015

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