Ethereum’s X Account Gets Fact-Checked by ZachXBT: ‘Proton Takes Bitcoin, Not ETH, for Subscriptions’

The legend

Responding directly to a post from the official Ethereum account, ZachXBT written the:

“Proton does not currently accept Ethereum as a payment option for subscriptions only. Bitcoin.

The pseudonymous investigator, known for tracing stolen funds and exposing fraud across the industry, attached a screenshot and left the correction at that, a typically brutal fact check delivered to an account with millions of followers.

ZachXBT has spent much of the year building exactly that reputation through its recent work, including a survey that found 95% of LAB token supply was controlled by insiders and a warning that the $32 million Humanity Protocol hack was “possibly staged.”

What Proton actually accepts

Proton’s own support documentation backs the investigator with the Swiss company, best known for its Proton Mail encrypted email service and VPN, stating that users “can pay for any Proton subscription with Bitcoin“, at least where crypto is concerned.

The process is intentionally simple if manual, and users only need to select bitcoin At checkout, scan a QR code or copy a BTC address and wait for network confirmations (this may take up to 24 hours). Auto-renewal is not available for bitcoin payers, Proton therefore advises sending payment at least 24 hours before an invoice is due.

The company Bitcoin the alignment is deeper than payment options given that in 2024 Proton launched Proton Wallet, a self-custodial wallet bitcoin storage solution available on the web, iOS and Android (a product built around BTC exclusively, without support for ether or ERC-20 tokens).

A delicate moment for Ethereum payments push

The jab comes at a sensitive time for Ethereum’s public positioning, given that its parent entity has witnessed a massive exodus of talent during the last quarter. Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation released an official report confidentiality commitment at the end of last year and has since narrowed his priorities to what he calls CROPS (i.e. resistance to censorshipcapture resistance, openness, privacy and security). Payments adoption is high on the foundation’s 2026 execution plans, and network marketing is increasingly courting privacy-conscious users.

That’s precisely why ZachXBT’s correction stung since Proton is arguably the most recognizable privacy technology brand in the world, with services spanning email, cloud storage, passwords, and VPN (and when it comes to cryptoit takes bitcoin). An Ethereum marketing campaign aimed at verifying the economics of privacy calls for an obvious retort that the industry’s flagship company is funneling its money to the rival chain.