Bitcoin’s supposed founder plans to sue Coinbase and other crypto exchanges in what will be the most significant legal battle in human history later this year.
The saga over who Satoshi Nakomoto, the pseudonymous founder of Bitcoin is, continues to take interesting turns. Craig Wright, who claims to be Bitcoin’s originator, has been embroiled in one legal case after the other.
In a new twist, Wright plans to sue Coinbase and other exchanges for including Bitcoin on their platforms later this year. He claims his Bitcoin fork—BSV— is the authentic version of the Bitcoin whitepaper. Therefore, he wants these crypto platforms to either license BSV, change Bitcoin’s name, or both.
New Legal Battle A Long Time In the Making
It seems that Craig Wright intended legal battle has been in the works for quite some time. Plenty of evidence supports this belief, even before he hinted at the possibilities last week. In November, he revealed to the BSV community that plans were already in motion and followed that with a death pronouncement a day after
However, last week, in an interview with David Porter, CEO at GlobalBoost, Wright gave another cryptic hint when the Bitcoin-BSV subject came up. He said,
…they’re passing off, and you’ll see that later this year. I’ll give you a little hint, it’s probably going to be the biggest legal case in human history globally. This one’s going to make British American Tobacco look small.
Immediately after his hidden message, a BSV supporter speculated that Wright would sue Coinbase for using the Bitcoin name. Calvin Ayre, who pays all of Craig Wright’s legal battles, agreed with this assertion on Twitter. His agreement more or less confirms the certainty of the lawsuit.
Wright believes that Bitcoin, with the inclusion of Segwit, Lightning Network, and Taproot, is far removed from its original ideas in the whitepaper. As a result, he claims it can no longer be referred to as Bitcoin.
BSV, on the other hand, lacks these features and scales solely by increasing block size. This has caused BSV miners to mine 2GB and larger blocks, resulting in a significant drop in the number of nodes serving the protocol. From hundreds of nodes at its launch in 2018, BSV now has just over a dozen nodes. This drastic slump made it the subject of several 51% attacks last year.
Despite Wrights’s claims, a lawsuit of such purported magnitude will take a long time to play out. Also, with many sceptics and doubters, it is yet to be seen if he will have public support in his favour. In the meantime, crypto enthusiasts will keenly watch the situation as it unfolds.
Wright To Pay $43 Million More In IP Damage
While Wright plans to sue Coinbase and other crypto exchanges, he has been ordered to pay a whopping $43 million more in IP damage. A Miami court judge ordered the payment in addition to the $100 million compensation already awarded to the prosecution.
In December last year, the late David Kleiman’s estate was granted US$100 million in intellectual property theft damages by a jury— in the Kleiman v. Wright litigation. Both men alleged to be co-founders Bitcoin system. Wright praised the ruling at the time, insinuating that the verdict proved he was the pseudonymous founder of the cryptocurrency. Both men alleged to be co-founders Bitcoin system.
Now, however, the judge in the “Satoshi trial” has increased Wright’s IP damages by US$43 million, plus interest. This brings the total payment to $143 million, paid to David Kleiman’s brother, the plaintiff, on behalf of his estate and heirs.
Despite its ruling, the court could not still certify if Wright’s claims were valid; hence it only awarded Dave Kleiman’s estate the IP damages. With a challenging and expensive legal battle ahead, wright would want to finalise the satoshi case and focus entirely on Coinbase.
Do you think Craig Wrighhts claims are valid and Bitcoin has strayed away from its original plan as described in its whitepaper? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Chris is a crypto enthusiast and a firm believer in the blockchain’s ability to create a new financial paradigm. Through writing, Chris hopes to expose the intricacies of this disruptive technology and how it is beneficial to Africans and developing countries. He aims to give readers a rational and unbiased outlook of the industry by equipping them with the necessary information to make enlightened investment decisions.
