On stage at the Malta AI & Blockchain Summit yesterday, Bitcoin Cash proponent Roger Ver made a $10,000 bet with the high-profile trader, consultant, and content creator Tone Vays — which the latter won.
The bet was spurred on by the Bitcoin.com CEO’s insistence that BTC’s average transaction fees were currently $3.00 per transaction and that BCH was vastly superior for having transaction fees under one cent.
Vays correctly argued that claims of $3.00 average BTC transaction fees were misleading, which caused Ver to bet $10,000 (to charity) that Vays could not send him a $5 BTC transaction with one cent fees in under one day.
After each personality took out their phones and conducted the transaction, Ver continued to insist that the transaction would not take place in the near future and would get stuck in the mempool.
However, Vays took to Twitter early this morning to prove that the transaction went through in approximately 10 hours — thus proving Ver wrong.
Today at #AIBCsummit @rogerkver claimed average #Bitcoin transaction fee was $3. I called bullshit & he offered to pay $10,000 if my $5 $BTC transaction would clear in 24 hour at 1 #satoshi/byte = 1 Penny!
Transaction cleared after 10hrs. Debate at 6:35:00 https://t.co/QAhqmrjhvN pic.twitter.com/VYHiBibh3u— Tone Vays (Unconfiscatable.com) (@ToneVays) May 25, 2019
@CobraBitcoin then took to Twitter to claim that the transaction was “really shady” while claiming that Slushpool unfairly gave priority to Vays’ transaction in an effort to help the BTC-proponent win the bet.
Really shady stuff going on at @slush_pool. There was a $10,000 bet between @ToneVays and @rogerkver on whether Tone’s very low fee transaction would confirm today. 10 hours later slush pool mines it as its most high priority transaction in block 577628 (#2 tx after coinbase).
— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) May 25, 2019
However, Cøbra’s concerns were refuted with apparent proof that the mempool was empty — allowing Vays’ transaction to included in a block without the need to manipulate its priority.
Wow, I think this has to break the record for the most important & controversial $5 #Bitcoin transaction in history 😁… But this seems to show that the mempool cleared up within 24 hours of the of @rogerkver bet on stage at #AIBCSummit (see 6:35:00 mark)https://t.co/QAhqmr1GEf https://t.co/3vjRML5LgC
— Tone Vays (Unconfiscatable.com) (@ToneVays) May 25, 2019
The debate itself was a bit too short to be substantial, otherwise.
Ver primarily spent the allotted time badgering Vays about transaction fees and the nascent Lightning Network after the former gave his standard pitch about the speed and low-fee nature of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) — which received, according to this reporter’s ears, one single applause from the full auditorium.
Vays, on the other hand, largely played defense by claiming that the Lightning Network would almost certainly be vastly improved in the near future, SegWit correctly solved Bitcoin’s immediate scalability issues experienced in late 2017, and that he has to problem transacting non-micropayments on-chain for a reasonable fee to support the miners.
What do you think about the ongoing Bitcoin Cash (BCH) vs. Bitcoin (BTC) debate? Do you think Slushpool unfairly mined Tone Vays’ transaction? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!