Mike Hearn walked away from Bitcoin last week, calling the cryptocurrency a failed experiment. He'd be the most hated man in the community if Cryptsy's collapse weren't still fresh. Hearn spent years
Mike Hearn walked away from Bitcoin last week, calling the cryptocurrency a failed experiment. He'd be the most hated man in the community if Cryptsy's collapse weren't still fresh.
Hearn spent years as a Core developer working on Bitcoin's protocol before his exit. The timing raised questions when the community learned he'd taken a position at R3 CEV, the firm assembling a consortium of over 30 major banks including UBS, JP Morgan, Citi and Goldman Sachs. R3 is building a private blockchain designed to let these institutions settle payments with each other faster and cheaper than the current banking infrastructure allows.
Simon Dixon, who runs BnkToTheFuture, a crypto-fiat investment platform that has backed projects like Uphold, went on CNBC today to challenge Hearn's narrative. Dixon suggested the major banks had orchestrated Hearn's departure as part of a coordinated campaign against Bitcoin itself.
"One of Bitcoin's core strengths is moving money around the globe for almost nothing, to anyone with an internet connection, without needing a bank or government approval," Dixon said in the interview. "The banks recognized this in 2015 when Bitcoin outperformed every other currency. They banded together to counter it."
He then linked Hearn to the scheme without reservation. "They brought in a Core developer who'd been there from the start. He goes to R3. Then he announces Bitcoin has failed."
When asked to name names, Dixon didn't back down. He said Hearn's timing looked suspect given how the scaling debate had been unfolding. The community had convened at the Scaling Bitcoin conference to tackle growth and volume challenges, and viable solutions were emerging. Hearn had advocated for his own approach that hadn't gained sufficient support from other developers. Once R3 hired him, he declared the whole system broken.
"Hearn knows as well as anyone that the scaling solutions are in motion," Dixon said. "His announcement came right after his bank employers brought him on. I question whether he's being straight with people."
Reddit and Bitcointalk forums have echoed Dixon's suspicions over the past week, with users making the connection between Hearn's new role and his public departure. The private blockchain R3 is building could undercut Bitcoin's advantage in cheap transfers, but the comparison is limited. It would work only among the participating banks. It would lack Bitcoin's open network structure and give the banks complete control over fees charged to customers.
