Bitmain’s Office Walls Defaced in Nighttime Raid

A group of people descended on Bitmain’s office building in Israel during the night last weekend and defaced their walls with anti-Bitmain printouts. The printouts referenced the recent “Antbleed miner backdoor,” issued threats to employees, and included remarks warning people about cyber attacks from the company. 

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The night raid comes alongside escalating differences regarding the bitcoin scaling debate, also because Bitmain backs Bitcoin Unlimited. Bitmain decried the nighttime raid as an act of vandalism based on fury over community differences. They said,

During the last weekend, at nighttime, while the office was closed and we were away, he infiltrated the building where our office is and decided to go on a good old fashion vandalism streak, posting messages threatening our employees.

"A night visit in @BITMAINtech Israel offices." #Bitcoin #antbleed https://t.co/7sCTtEhQPv

— WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) May 18, 2017

Aftermath of the Night Raid: Reddit Commentary from Alleged Perpetrator

However, those who committed the act and their defenders saw their action as a form of protest meant to send a message to Bitmain. They believe Bitmain does not have Bitcoin’s best interest at heart, especially since there is a backdoor embedded within Bitmain’s mining hardware.

One Reddit commentator said, “This will help Bitmain understand that they’re dealing with a strong, united and willing community that’s not going to be frightened by their threats and surrender to their demands.”

An alleged perpetrator said, “We did not vandalize anything. It was a public area within an office building that’s open to everyone. We said hi to the guy at the front, and he helped show us the way. We also used that blue tac stuff. More expensive than tape, but comes off very easily and leaves no marks. It was important for us not to damage anything, just voice our protest.”

Bitmain’s Side of the Story

Gadi Glikberg, Bitmain’s Tech Manager, said this night raid on their office happened after a disagreement with founder of Bitrated Nadav Ivgi took place. Gilkberg said he tried to have a decent and civil discussion with Ivgi, but their in-person meetup ended badly and no one learned anything. Gilkberg said,

“I asked him to meet in person, hoping for a challenging and invigorating discussion. Sadly for me the discussion was less interesting then I hoped. Instead of challenging assumptions, the same assertions were repeated, counter arguments ignored and I left with the feeling that an opportunity was missed. I have not learned anything new and was not able to teach anything new.”

UPDATED: Nadav Ivgi reached out to Bitcoin.com with a comment on the matter;

“None of the flyers had any words of threats. This is not our way. The bitcoin activists that participated in the protest are peaceful and would never take part in threats, violence or any other illegal activity.” Ivgi said, “The local bitcoin community have experience with similar protests against Israeli banks and corrupted officials, and this has always been a red line that was never crossed.”

He continued, “The protest in question took place in the public areas of building that’s freely accessible. None of the protesters entered any offices, Bitmain’s private property, or any other restricted areas.”Additionally, the meeting that Gadi is referring to took place more than a year ago. The protest was organized by the local bitcoin community to criticize Bitmain’s actions and policies, and had nothing to do with that meeting or with Gadi personally.”

The results of this disagreement and rising tension, according to Bitmain, was the night assault on their office. A video posted of the event by the perpetrators is shown below.

What do you think about this nighttime raid on Bitmain’s Israel office buildings? Was it justified? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of imgur.com

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