The CEO of Digital Currency Group is accused of being the driving force behind ETC

Huffington Post reporter David Seaman recently took aim at Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group (DGC). Simon wrote that Silbert was the man behind the Ethereum Classic (ETC) chain, and in his opinion, the entire ETC project was a blatant scam.

(David Seaman)

Simon says Hilbert is the driving force behind ETC

In the report, published on August 6 and titled “ The Barry Silbert of the Bitcoin World is About to Be Indicted ,” Seaman claims that Silbert is manipulating the ETC project because without the “New York millionaire” backing the campaign, ETC would not be where it is today. The author says that if Ethereum were a public company or a publicly traded commodity, then what Silbert is doing would be considered illegal. Seaman explained his point:

“Especially since Mr. Silbert was previously fined by the SEC , my sources indicate that a second examination from the SEC could result in a more severe penalty, especially since leading cryptocurrency media outlet CoinDesk has been wholly owned by Mr. Silbert’s digital currency company and has since ‘clearly’ favored the Classic chain in its coverage.”

Previously, ETC attracted a lot of attention after it was listed on the Poloniex exchange. At that time, Hilbert said on his Twitter:

“I bought my first non-Bitcoin digital currency… I bought ETC at $0.50 and I thought the risk-reward ratio was good and based on philosophy, I jumped on board.”

In response, Simon gave his comment: "... Liar, prepare to go to jail!"

Within a day of Hilbert’s tweet, ETC’s trading volume on the Poloniex exchange soared to 100,000 BTC. Since then, Hilbert has spoken about ETC several times and retweeted articles on the subject. At one point, Hilbert declared on Twitter:

“My initial investment in ETC has quadrupled, and this afternoon I will put 5% of my personal Bitcoin into ETC. After I bought ETC, a lot of people called me an idiot, and now I feel very good. This reminds me of the experience of buying Bitcoin under $10.”

(Barry Silbert)

Simon said that when he attended the Ethereum Developer Conference in San Francisco, no one seemed to think that the ETC chain was a threat. However, when he heard about Barry Silbert's actions, he felt that something was wrong. Therefore, Simon and other "industry observers" believed that Silbert should clarify his statement.

The investor eventually responded to Simon on Twitter, writing "@d_seaman, yes I care what you think."

Two days later, Hilbert posted another intriguing tweet, which attracted a lot of attention. He said:

Since then, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who has clearly stated that he 100% supports ETH, responded:

Simon noted in a previous post that he might not care too much about Silbert’s opinion, but people like Kathryn Haun, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Digital Currency Crimes Unit, might, as well as Ethereum investors, developers, and companies that are using the Ethereum protocol.

What do you think?