Controversy continues to surround the Bitcoin fork known as BTCB2, following decisions by its development team to secure listings on small trading venues under the ticker XBT. The asset split from Bitcoin on August 8, 2026, at block height 961632, and later shifted its proof-of-work mechanism to BLAKE2b while reducing the block size.
The choice of the XBT ticker has drawn criticism because XBT is a long-established ISO 4217-style code utilized for bitcoin (BTC) across institutional rails and platforms like Kraken. Neoxa Exchange adopted the XBT ticker for the asset on September 8 after being persuaded by the project team. Observers on social media criticized the move, arguing that using the code misleads users and echoes established ticker standards for the primary cryptocurrency. Neoxa defended its decision by stating that the project chose the ticker, deposits and withdrawals are clearly marked, and its platform already utilizes a standard BTC ticker.
Trading data shows that the forked asset's price has declined from earlier peaks, changing hands between $250 and $350 per unit on USDC markets. The network's chain remains ahead of the main Bitcoin blockchain in block height, supported by an estimated hashrate of 16.9 to 17.6 petahash per second across multiple mining pools.
Additional tension arose when mining pool Alphapool neared 50% of the network's total hashrate, triggering a decentralization debate among supporters in the project's Discord server. While a Knots GitHub proposal briefly surfaced to target the pool's payout address, creator Luke Dashjr advised against running the code. Alphapool defended its actions as normal protocol participation and later stated it would voluntarily cap its network share at 30%, with its hashrate subsequently cooling below 18%.
