It is evident the United Bitcoin project is pretty controversial. Not only is it the umpteenth hard fork to steal Bitcoin’s thunder, but it also seems more nefarious than originally assumed. The goal of this project is to make Bitcoin useful again, which is honorable. However, this fork will also transfer inactive balances to the UB Foundation. This means that, in theory, Satoshi Nakamoto’s BTC are at stake here.
Not all Bitcoin hard forks are harmless this time of year. United Bitcoin is by far one of the most controversial projects in existence today. According to the whitepaper, this project will go after inactive account balances. All of this money will be moved to multisignature addresses controlled by the United Bitcoin Foundation. A very troublesome development, especially when looking at the bigger picture. A lot of money is locked in addresses which can no longer be accessed by its original owner.
United Bitcoin is a Fraud
This includes all of the addresses belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto as well. Assuming that is the objective of this hard fork, it is one of the biggest threats to Bitcoin in history. There is no reason to claim inactive funds for one’s own benefit whatsoever. Nor should this be made possible at the protocol level whatsoever. It is unclear why the United Bitcoin team event dares to explore this option. All of the inactive funds need to be left alone, as it doesn’t belong to anyone but the original address owner.
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Moreover, there are even more complaints regarding this project. The United Bitcoin fork seemingly requires users to use their existing BTC address. This also means the private keys of said address need to be imported into a third-party client. A very controversial development, as it inherently weakens use privacy. Then again, we all know Bitcoin lacks privacy and will continue to do so for some time to come. There is little reason to trust this hard fork in its current form, unless a proper explanation is given.
The bigger problem is how Jeff Garzik is allegedly associated with this project. It is unclear what the objective of this pet project is. Hardly anyone will trust United Bitcoin at this point, which is the only logical course of action. This is a very worrisome situation that may effectively bring Bitcoin to its knees if successful. We can only hope this fork is opposed by everyone before things really get out of hand.
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