Proton Privacy’s controversial statement splits crypto community; Here’s why
Proton Privacy’s controversial statement splits crypto community; Here’s why 
Cryptocurrency Jul 26, 2024 Share
Proton Privacy launched a Bitcoin (BTC) wallet on July 24, dividing the cryptocurrency community with an ambiguous and unclear communication strategy. When questioned about the product being “Bitcoin-only,” the official account said they are “not interested in shitcoins,” raising doubts.
The controversy arises in a context where some industry leaders forcefully promote Bitcoin as the only legitimate cryptocurrency, calling everything else a “shitcoin” or a “scam.” Notably, the Proton Wallet account followed only 17 individuals on X by press time, some of them known for this “Bitcoin maximalist” belief.
Therefore, some in the crypto community believe Proton Wallet could have mirrored this behavior, while others believe this is just confusion and that the account was referring to something else.
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As developed, the Proton Team said, “It [the wallet] is currently Bitcoin only,” answering a comment related to “scams seem to be abundant with altcoins.” To that, the “Bitcoin-only” advocate, Oliver Koblížek, slammed, “‘Currently,’ here comes the shitcoins,” to which Proton Wallet’s official account responded, “We are not interested in shitcoins.”
Proton did not respond to Finbold’s two inquiries for clarification, requested nearly 48 and 24 hours before publishing time. We will update this story with further developments.
We're not interested in shitcoins.
— Proton Wallet (@ProtonWallet) July 24, 2024
Proton’s “Bitcoin-only” position raises confusion among industry leaders
Crypto industry leaders commented on this context, showing confusion about the company’s “insulting” behavior toward the industry and customers. Some alleged users have manifested a willingness to close their Proton accounts or cancel subscriptions in a type of boycott.
The surprise comes as Proton positions itself as a “privacy by default” company, a motto similar to Monero’s (XMR). Moreover, the prominent privacy advocate Seth For Privacy explained this “unprofessional response” was confusing, especially due to previous discussions with the company regarding a potential Monero integration.
Strangely out of character and unprofessional response here.
Portraying blind Bitcoin maximalism from a company touting "private by default" as it's tagline is confusing AF, especially when I know for a fact they don't consider Monero a shitcoin from many direct conversations… https://t.co/Y4xGj70CGe
— Seth For Privacy | #FreeSamourai (@sethforprivacy) July 24, 2024
Interestingly, Monero is the second-most-voted request for Proton Mail’s accounts and payments category at “The Voice of Proton Community.” It comes after a request for Proton to accept payments in Nano (XNO), which Proton’s Community Team has put under review. XNO and XMR payment requests have 3,615 and 2,813 votes, respectively.
The Voice of Proton Community, Account & Payments. Source: Proton Mail
Luke Parker, the lead developer of SeraiDEX, called Proton’s ambiguous response disrespectful and insulting. Parker explained he did not expect the product to be a “multi-coin wallet” but to respectfully state its position.
I'm not even saying they should be a multi-coin wallet or spend hours listening to everyone ask for their favorite coin.
"We aren't interested in adding any other coins at this time and will not take suggestions."
Curt, but not disrespectful.
— Luke Parker (@kayabaNerve) July 25, 2024
Vik Sharma, founder of Cake Wallet, demonstrated sorrow after switching from Microsoft 365 to Proton Docs.
Damn… we at @cake just switched from #Microsoft365 to @ProtonPrivacy . Proton not only now craps on privacy tools, they directly insult their customers too. (And in my case, they kind of became a competitor as well).
— Vik Sharɱa 🇺🇸 (@vikrantnyc) July 25, 2024
Proton Privacy believes altcoins can’t compete with Bitcoin
Additionally, the company has published a Bitcoin guide with the Wallet’s launch that puts more fuel to the fire. In this guide, Proton Privacy says:
“Altcoins simply cannot compete [against BTC] even if they have some perceived advantages such as higher throughput or privacy.”
– Proton Wallet
Bitcoin Guide for Newbies; Bitcoin vs Altcoins. Source: Proton Wallet
On that note, the privacy advocate known as Untraceable raised concerns related to Proton’s commitment to its users’ privacy. In a thread, the advocate explained that “every product offered by Proton has made privacy a priority, with the exception of Proton Wallet.”
Proton is a privacy centric company. Their first product Proton Mail was e2e encrypted email. Every product offered by Proton since has made privacy a priority.
With the exception of @ProtonWallet. 2/9
— ᴜɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴇᴀʙʟᴇ (@DontTraceMeBruh) July 25, 2024
However, some cryptocurrency enthusiasts have come in defense of Proton, arguing the “shitcoin” comment refers only to “Ponzi schemes” and “scam tokens,” not Monero or other legitimate projects.
As of this writing, the crypto community awaits clarification regards what the Proton team considers a “shitcoin” and if it includes all cryptocurrencies but Bitcoin. So far, no statements have been made after over 48 hours of confusion, although the Proton Wallet account is actively answering positive comments from BTC enthusiasts on social platforms.
