History

edit

The Bitcoin.com domain name was registered in January of 2008,[1] a year before the Bitcoin network was launched by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

In 2011, the domain was briefly managed by Trade Hill Exchange (Tradehill), the first U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, handling a fifth of all global Bitcoin exchanges at the time.[2] Tradehill closed its doors in 2012, citing regulatory issues and a dispute with payment processor Dwolla.[3] Tradehill also had its own domain (Tradehill.com) and never launched Bitcoin trading services on the Bitcoin.com domain.[4][5]

Roger Ver gained control of the Bitcoin.com domain name in April 2014 where he leased it to Blockchain.info (now Blockchain.com).[6][7] Starting in December 2014,[8] then prominent Chinese cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin[9] took over management of the site under a lease agreement made with site owner Roger Ver.[10] In May 2015, the 5-year agreement was terminated by OKCoin who issued a statement[11] claiming the agreement regarding the domain was invalid due to the entity named in the documents not being representative of the actual company. Ver sued OKCoin’s Hong Kong entity over contract breaches[12] and was awarded a $570,000 judgement by a Hong Kong court in November 2017.[13]

In June 2015, Roger Ver re-launched Bitcoin.com, dedicating it to helping grow the Bitcoin network by providing educational resources and reliable tools for interacting with the network. He served as CEO of the company until 1 August 2019, at which point he transitioned to Executive Chairman.

In April 2018, Bitcoin.com was denounced by critics over the naming and positioning of two different cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in various parts of the site.[14] The allegation was that then Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver was using the site to misleadingly promote Bitcoin Cash. A lawsuit was threatened[15] but never materialized, likely because the site’s page for buying cryptocurrency did, in fact, clearly distinguish between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.[16] In May 2018, Bitcoin.com updated its block explorer page to remove potentially misleading language.[17]

In September 2019, Taiwanese consumer electronics giant HTC entered into a partnership with Bitcoin.com where all of HTC’s Exodus 1 phones came preloaded with Bitcoin.com’s wallet software.[18][19]

In May 2020, former Apple and Rakuten senior manager Dennis Jarvis was appointed CEO of Bitcoin.com.[20] Jarvis redefined Bitcoin.com's vision to more broadly support the concept of ‘economic freedom’ rather than promote a specific cryptocurrency.

In April 2021, the Bitcoin.com domain was erroneously listed for sale on Godaddy. This prompted site owner Roger Ver to demand the domain registrar and web hosting company remove the $100 million listing, which it did without providing further explanation.[21][22]

  1. ^ "Whois bitcoin.com". www.whois.com. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  2. ^ "What Was Trade Hill Exchange?". Investopedia. Retrieved 2021-10-25. The founder of Trade Hill Exchange, Jered Kenna, has claimed that at its height, the exchange had 20% of the market in bitcoin trades.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Kharif, Olga (2019-10-03). "Why an early Bitcoin millionaire says he's lost his 'love for the industry". Financial Post. ISSN 0838-8431. Retrieved 2021-10-25. Started in 2011, TradeHill closed its doors in 2012, citing a need to get money-transmitter licenses and because of difficulty of finding a bank willing to work with it, among a host of reasons, he said.
  4. ^ "Bitcoin.com". Bitcoin.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Bitcoin P2P Digital Currency". Bitcoin.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  6. ^ Heal, Jordan (2019-03-06). "Roger Ver thinks Bitcoin.com is suffering from a 'government-backed attack'". Yahoo!Finance. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  7. ^ Cotillard, Mario (2015-06-24). "Roger Ver Revealed As Bitcoin.com Owner, In Bitter Dispute With OKCoin". Brave NewCoin. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  8. ^ "OKCoin". Golden. Archived from the original on 1 November 2021. From December 2014 until May 2015 OKCoin managed the domain bitcoin.com, and stopped due to a dispute with the domain-owner, Roger Ver.
  9. ^ Higgins, Stan (2017-09-15). "Huobi, OKCoin to Stop Yuan-to-Bitcoin Trading By October's End". Coindesk. Retrieved 2021-11-02. Chinese bitcoin exchanges Huobi and OKCoin – two of the country's "Big Three" markets –
  10. ^ Higgins, Stan (2015-06-25). "Roger Ver and OKCoin at War Over Bitcoin.com Domain Name". Coindesk. Retrieved 2021-11-02. the two sides struck a five-year deal last December to control the property.
  11. ^ "OKCoin no longer managing Bitcoin.com due to contract conflict with domain owner". OKCoin. 2015-06-13. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  12. ^ Lee, Eddie (2016-09-22). "Bitcoin investor sues Hong Kong firm over alleged contract breaches". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  13. ^ Higgins, Stan (2017-02-17). "Bitcoin Investor Roger Ver to Push for OKCoin Liquidation in Court". Coindesk. Retrieved 2021-11-02. On 17th November, the court handed down a final and interlocutory judgment awarding the $570,000 to Ver.
  14. ^ Fadilpašić, Sead (2018-04-30). "Bitcoin.com Accused of Misleading People into Buying BCH". Cryptonews. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  15. ^ Huillet, Marie (2018-04-28). "Outraged Pro-BTC Community Alleges Bitcoin.com Is Misleading Buyers Into Buying BCH". Coindesk. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  16. ^ Floyd, David (2018-06-01). "Bitcoin Cash Is Bitcoin? Lawsuits Won't Stop the Fight Over Bitcoin's Name". Coindesk. Retrieved 2021-11-02. the page clearly distinguishes between bitcoin cash and bitcoin core; there is no option to purchase just "bitcoin."
  17. ^ Mix (2018-06-01). "Roger Ver's Bitcoin.com no longer labels BCH as the real Bitcoin". The Next Web. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  18. ^ Takahashi, Dean (2019-09-16). "HTC partners with Bitcoin.com to support cryptocurrency smartphone Exodus 1". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  19. ^ Bonifacic, Igor (2019-09-16). "HTC will preload a Bitcoin Cash wallet on its blockchain phone". Engadget. Retrieved 2021-11-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ Mapperson, Joshua (2020-06-22). "Bitcoin.com's New CEO is Third So Far in 2020 Amid 'Lagging Morale'". Coindesk. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  21. ^ Bourgi, Sam (2021-04-05). "Roger Ver calls out GoDaddy for wrongly listing Bitcoin.com as 'for sale'". CoinTelegraph. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  22. ^ Khatri, Yogita (2021-04-05). "GoDaddy removes listing that showed Bitcoin.com for sale for $100 million". The Block. Retrieved 2021-11-02.