Craig S. Wright claims to be the creator of Bitcoin aka Satoshi Nakamoto and has brought about a libel lawsuit against podcaster Peter McCormack for $130,000, who also called him a fraud. This is the entire story and why it is important for the Bitcoin community.
Contents
Background
Background for those who aren’t up to date with the events. Craig Wright is NChain’s chief scientist and a proponent of Bitcoin SV (BSV). He has been claiming that he is Satoshi, the person who wrote the Bitcoin whitepaper and code, since quite some time now. His outrageous claims create further confusion for new users and have been known to be harmful to Bitcoin’s public image.
While initially the idea was received by the community as an amusing joke, since Craig Wright’s background of various lawsuits, it became serious when he tried to file copyrights for the Bitcoin whitepaper in the United States as well as brought about a suit for libel against the podcaster Peter McCormack for calling him a fraud.
Given Craig’s background, he is popularly known in the crypto community as Faketoshi. He has a multi-billion fraud case against himself by Dave Kleiman, a computer forensics expert who was an early adopter of Bitcoin alleging that Craig Wright defrauded him of Bitcoin worth $1.1 million, which is now worth over $10 billion. In the same case, Craig was caught for producing false evidence. More court cases faced by Craig Wright have been brought to light since then.
The situation grew worse when Craig started threatening Twitter users with a lawsuit if they called him out on not being Satoshi Nakamoto. Craig even placed a bounty on an anonymous Twitter user’s identity who claimed that he is not Satoshi. It further escalated when Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao de-listed BSV for the team’s conduct. P2P exchange Shapeshift also de-listed BSV, and San Francisco based Kraken followed suit.
The Lawsuit
In the latest series of events, Craig has brought about a libel lawsuit against podcaster Peter McCormack for $130,000, who also called him a fraud and asked him to provide his digital signature of the Genesis block if he really wanted to prove that he is Satoshi.
When Peter announced this on Twitter, Bitcoin community was prompt to support him morally, legally and financially. Binance CEO offered to cover the costs of the lawsuit, many lawyers offered their advice and service, numerous Bitcoin and crypto believers offered to donate small amounts that could pile up to the sum Peter needs to fight this lawsuit. Peter asked the supporters to hold while he decided the best course of action. The response got him more respect from the community.
Today, on May 31, he has declared his intention to fight this and appointed RPC, the best firm to defend a libel case, to represent him. He has mentioned that he can cover some cost but will need financial support and will consult some Bitcoiners about the method of fundraising, currencies, management of funds, the audit of funds and about the use of surplus funds if any.
Supporting Peter is supporting Bitcoin
Bitcoin SV and Craig Wright have just added to the confusion through their mouthpiece, CoinGeek about how Bitcoin SV represents Satoshi’s vision based on their claim that Craig is Satoshi Nakamoto. From bullying Twitter users for speaking out to filing for a copyright for Bitcoin’s whitepaper, this menace needs to stop and as a community, we need to set an example for anyone trying to claim Satoshi’s identity for future. If Satoshi really wanted to reveal himself/herself/themselves, they would not wait for ten years. This is clearly because the market cap of Bitcoin is so high, anyone claiming to be Satoshi can manipulate it.
This is against the very ethos of Bitcoin, the only crypto project to be decentralised enough to NOT have a figurehead – CEO or project founder. I cannot find any crypto project worth its salt that has survived without a figurehead, which is the epitome of decentralisation.
We will publish updates of the case as it proceeds and some tips on how Bitcoin and crypto community can protect one of their own. For updates, subscribe to posts via email.
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