Coinspeaker Craig Wright Launches Fresh Legal Battle Against Bitcoin Core Developers

Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and businessman who continues to claim he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin (BTC), has once again turned to the courts. This time, Wright has filed a lawsuit against Bitcoin Core developers, with Square Up Europe Limited, a subsidiary of Jack Dorsey’s Block, among the defendants.

The lawsuit, filed in the Chancery Division of the High Court in London earlier this week, accused the defendants of altering Bitcoin’s original features through the implementation of the Taproot upgrade and Segregated Witness (SegWit). Wright asserted that these changes deviate from Bitcoin’s original vision.

Allegations of Misrepresentation

According to the self-acclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, the modifications to the Bitcoin blockchain have caused “confusion within the market” and misled the public into believing that Bitcoin retains its original attributes. Wright claimed that the changes undermine the essence of what Satoshi Nakamoto originally designed and implemented.

In response, the Australian computer programmer is seeking the difference in market value between Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV), the digital asset he claimed is the true continuation of the original Bitcoin protocol. At the time of the filing on October 10, BTC was trading at $62,000 (£48,000), while BSV stood at $65 (£50), leading Wright to pursue a claim of $1.18 billion (£911 million) in damages.

Previous Legal Challenges

Wright is no stranger to litigation. In a previous lawsuit against Bitcoin.Org’s “Cøbra” he claimed copyright infringement of the Bitcoin whitepaper Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, which he says he authored.

However, the Australian businessman lost that case when Lord Justice Arnold ruled that his evidence was “overwhelmingly” insufficient to establish his claim to being the original creator of Bitcoin. The court concluded that Wright had no legitimate claim to the document and could not prove that he was Satoshi Nakamoto.

Despite this setback, Wright continued to file legal actions claiming to be the brains behind the Bitcoin blockchain. This continuous legal battle led the court to ban him from filing more litigation relating to Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity.

Undeterred by the court’s order, he is now back to court to argue that Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV) is the true version of the cryptocurrency originally designed by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Defamation Case and Further Controversy

Another example of Wright’s failure to proof his Satoshi Nakamoto claim was seen in 2022 during a legal dispute with Magnus Granath, a prominent Bitcoin advocate known by the online alias “Hodlonaut.”

Wright sued Granath after he called him a “scammer” in a series of tweets in 2019. However, a Norwegian court ruled that Granath’s comments were not defamatory, determining that they were fair given the context of Wright’s public statements.

In its ruling, the court stated:

“Fraud’ or ‘fraudulently’ in this context refers to ‘someone who is not what they claim to be.’ Similarly, ‘fake’ refers to something ‘illegitimate’ or ‘false,’ and ‘scammer’ must be understood to mean ‘swindler’ or ‘cheat maker.”

During the case, Wright was asked to prove his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto by signing a message using the private key associated with Bitcoin’s genesis block. As with previous attempts to prove his claim, Wright was unable to do so, later stating that he had destroyed the hard drive containing the secret phrase to the wallet.

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Craig Wright Launches Fresh Legal Battle Against Bitcoin Core Developers