Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has said that Bitcoin SV “offers nothing” for the free-to-use online encyclopedia.

Wales made the comment on Twitter after his speaking appearance at Coin Geek London, a cryptocurrency event, appeared to have been mismarketed as an endorsement of Bitcoin SV.

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Bitcoin SV is a spin-off from Bitcoin Cash, which is itself a fork from the original Bitcoin.

A Coin Geek article announcing Wales’ keynote said: “Blockchain technology has the ability to both incentivise (through Bitcoin micropayments to users) more reliable information, and create a transparent record of changes to what has been written before.

“Until the emergence of Bitcoin SV (BSV) to reclaim Bitcoin’s original design, no blockchain had the scalability to power micropayments to efficiently reward better user information and handle the staggering amount of data Wikipedia carries.”

However, Wales appeared to take issue with the way his appearance was presented.

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“Your marketing materials need to be updated immediately – as people seem to be reading this as some kind of endorsement from me,” wrote Wales. “I’m coming to speak my mind, which includes that BSV offers nothing for Wikipedia and that there is zero chance we would ever use it.”

After a user suggested there’s a “big opportunity” for Wikipedia and it’s contributors to be paid in micropayments with Bitcoin SV, Wales replied, “that’s a perfectly terrible idea”.

He went on to explain that he was against the idea because he doesn’t “think the content of Wikipedia should be for sale to the highest bidder”.

Wales said that he’ll still be attending Coin Geek London to “speak his mind”, but that he has asked the organisers to “update the marketing materials to make it clear I do not endorse BSV in any way at all”.

“I think I will wear my ‘I am Satoshi Nakamoto’ shirt,” he added, in reference to Bitcoin’s mysterious creator.

Verdict has asked Wales and Coin Geek for comment.

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