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Ethereum Founder Is Boycotting One of the Biggest Crypto Summits

Ethereum Founder Is Boycotting One of the Biggest Crypto Summits

(Bloomberg) -- One of the biggest names in cryptocurrencies is boycotting one of the highest-profile conferences in the space.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin tweeted Thursday that he’s boycotting this year’s Consensus conference after CoinDesk, the news website that organizes the event, linked to a fraudulent website in one of its stories. Buterin, with almost 750,000 followers on Twitter, said he encourages others to say away from the event.

Ethereum Founder Is Boycotting One of the Biggest Crypto Summits

CoinDesk corrected the story on the jump of a digital token called OMG to remove the link Buterin referred to in his tweet.

“We were disappointed to learn of Vitalik’s tweet today regarding a CoinDesk reporting error, for which we apologize,” CoinDesk CEO Kevin Worth said in an email. “One of our reporters included an unverified link in an article; we quickly identified the error and fixed it. We strive to maintain the highest level of unbiased, ethical journalism in order to provide the best possible coverage of the blockchain industry.”

Buterin has complained before about how some media coverage of cryptocurrencies has helped legitimize scams. New York-based Satis Group found that 81 percent of ICOs are scams, according to a report last month.

In a thread of tweets, Buterin also said he didn’t like how the news site covered a proposed update to Ethereum’s code, said he disagrees with CoinDesk’s policy on reader comments, and suggested the $2,000-$3,000 price-tag on the ticket is excessive.

CoinDesk expects more than 4,000 people to listen to over 250 speakers at its May 14-16 summit in New York, according to its website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Camila Russo in New York at crusso15@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael P. Regan at mregan12@bloomberg.net, Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Andrew Dunn

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.