- Craig Wright sues the developers of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin SV to hand over “his stolen keys”.
- Wright claims that the developers have the power to give him “access and control” over his Bitcoin funds again.
Bitcoin‘s self-proclaimed inventor, Craig Wright, has taken new a legal action. In a press release, law firm Ontier LLP has announced that it will sue the developers of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin SV. Ontier represents the company Tulip Trading Limited in which Craig Wright has a majority stake.
The release proclaims Wright as the inventor of Bitcoin with “a vision” embodied in the cryptocurrency’s whitepaper under the synonym Satoshi Nakamoto and states the following:
The action will, for the first time, examine the nature and extent of legal duties conferred upon and owed by developers resulting from the control they exercise over their respective blockchains.
The release goes on to state that Wright was the victim of a hack that resulted in the theft of “substantial amounts” of Bitcoin belonging to the company Tulip Trading and adds:
These assets were, and continue to be, owned by TTL. The theft is the subject of an on-going investigation by the Cyber Crime division of the South East England Regional Organized Crime Unit.
Wright’s company is asking the developers to allow “re-obtain access and control” to the Bitcoin funds. The argument is that developers have sufficient “power” over “their blockchains” to return the allegedly stolen funds. In total, the lawsuit claims that Wright was allegedly stripped of £3.5 billion. The statement concludes:
As a victim of theft of some serious magnitude, Tulip Trading is seeking recovery of its access to and control of its digital assets from those in a position to remedy its loss. The fact that someone has stolen Tulip Trading’s digitally-held private Bitcoin keys does not prevent developers from deploying code to enable the rightful owner to regain control of its bitcoin.
Reactions from the Bitcoin community
The Bitcoin Core developer known as “Cobra” responded to the statement and called this new lawsuit a “well-planned and very serious” attack. Cobra added that Wright is suing Bitcoin SV because he “knows” they will meet his demands.
Craig Wright is now suing Bitcoin’s developers. He’s wanting access to coins he alleges were stolen from him.
Unlike the whitepaper stuff, this seems like a well planned and very serious legal attack.
Fuck any exchange that continues to list BSV. pic.twitter.com/stZVGNS6tb
— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) February 24, 2021
As reported by CNF, Wright only recently filed a lawsuit claiming copyright of the Bitcoin whitepaper. This forced the website bitcoincore.org to remove the paper from its website. However, the action started a support movement that moved individuals, international corporations, and countries to host the Whitepaper on their website.
On the new lawsuit against the developers of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin SV, attorney Stephen Palley had this to say:
You can sue someone for eating toast but it doesn’t mean you’ll win. It doesn’t sound “well planned” or “very serious” to me. Even assuming he could prove ownership to the satisfaction of a court, fashioning an international injunction binding on all miners and nodes is absurd.
Palley wished Wright’s legal representation “luck in obtaining jurisdiction over them (the developers)” and called the lawsuit a “ploy” to get attention. The lawyer stated that in the United States a person could be punished for similar legal action.
Meanwhile, the former lead maintainer of Monero, Ricardo “Flufflypony” Spagni, said that Wright’s lawyers thus “confirm” that Wright is the Mt. Gox hacker. The lawsuit alleges that the Tulip Trading Limited owns the address on 1Feex that contains 80,000 BTC stolen from the exchange. Spagni speculated that those affected by the incident may be seeking retribution from Wright.
Finally we have confirmation, via his lawyers, that Craig Wright is the Mtgox hacker (see his claim of ownership on the 1FeeX address: https://t.co/4tM6To0AOz). I’d imagine those affected by the Mtgox hack will want to pursuing Craig Wright for his theft of their BTC. https://t.co/F0Ho4B8cMk
— Riccardo Spagni (@fluffypony) February 24, 2021
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