CEO, backlash Bitcoin industry startups are facing backlash over a new series of articles in which they have been portrayed as pivoting away from the digital currency and toward more general FinTech applications. Spurred by articles in Business Insider and The Guardian that accused companies including BitPay, Circle and Uphold (formerly Bitreserve) of "turning their back" on the technology, social media forums became venues for an airing of community grievances over the more inflammatory language used by the publications this week. "Bitreserve, which used to be a bitcoin wallet and exchange, has rebranded itself as ‘Uphold’, and is now firmly trying to shove its history down the memory hole," The Guardian wrote. At issue for many was whether the news publications were overenthusiastic in their characterization of the industry trend, or whether the companies with formerly bitcoin-centric business models are saying one thing to the press and another to the community. Reddit user Eragmus took issue with the duality of statements by Uphold CEO Anthony Watson, writing: "This company is completely two-faced." Elsewhere, technology enthusiasts called the company "hypocrites" for statements that implied the "Bit" in its former name did not refer to bitcoin. Prior to this week , bitcoin had been the sole payment method available in the US to send funds in and out of the platform. Also caught up in the crossfire were BitPay and Circle, which were accused of abandoning their bitcoin products and "falling back" on the blockchain in order to acquire new users by Business Insider . Such wordings often confused the dualistic nature of the bitcoin blockchain, which requires the use of the bitcoin currency to function as a global payments rail. However, they did successfully highlight how many of the digital currency’s users feel it is the responsibility of industry startups […]
