On Wednesday, the former CEO of Twitter sent an email to a mailing list of cryptocurrency creators informing them of the creation of the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, which is now accepting donations.
This will pit Dorsey’s financial clout against the litigious Craig Wright, who has filed a lawsuit against a number of cryptocurrency developers in the so-called Tulip Trading lawsuit.
Wright filed a lawsuit in a London court last spring, alleging that 16 software developers had refused to assist him in retrieving 111,000 bitcoins that he claims were rightfully his. The lawsuit was dismissed.
Wright accused the developers of withholding the private keys that would have allowed him to access the cryptocurrency, which is currently valued at approximately $4.8 billion. Bitcoin was trading at $43,183.60 on Thursday afternoon.
Wright has claimed that he was a member of the team behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious figure who is credited with developing Bitcoin more than a decade ago. Wright’s claims are being investigated by the FBI. Aside from that, the billionaire has claimed to be the owner of 1.1 million Bitcoin, which would put his total net worth somewhere around $47.5 billion.
Wright’s claims have been largely dismissed by the cryptocurrency community.
Specifically, Wright’s case is being brought against the developers of four networks — Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV), Bitcoin Core (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Bitcoin Cash ABC (ABC) — who are located at addresses in continental Europe, the United States (including New York), Australia (including Melbourne), and Japan.
Mr. Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who now resides in the United Kingdom, claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the self-proclaimed creator of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Wright, according to the developers, was unable to demonstrate ownership of the currency.
As Dorsey wrote in an email on Wednesday to the Bitcoin community, which is currently the subject of “multi-front litigation,” some developers have been forced to “capitulate” in the absence of legal support. Dorsey is now the CEO of Block, formerly known as Square.
“The primary goal of this Fund is to defend developers against lawsuits arising from their activities in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which includes finding and retaining defence counsel, developing litigation strategy, and paying legal bills,” wrote Dorsey in a letter to developers.
If developers wish to take advantage of this free and voluntary option, they may do so at their discretion.
According to Reuters, Wright claimed in his legal filing that his encrypted keys were lost when his home computer network was hacked in February 2020.
In a statement released by Wright’s attorney, Paul Ferguson, he stated, “Our client has always maintained that he created bitcoin to operate within existing laws and that in the event of loss or theft, where legitimate ownership can be proven, the developers have a duty to ensure recovery.”
It was announced in October that Dorsey’s digital payments company, Square, would be investing $50 million in bitcoin.
It said at the time that it invested because it “believes that cryptocurrency is an instrument of economic empowerment and gives everyone the chance to be part of a global money system.”
During the last few weeks of November, Dorsey said that he was stepping down as CEO of Twitter. He was replaced by Parag Agrawal, who was chosen by him.
After the family of his former business partner, the late David Kleiman, sued him for half of the 1.1 million Bitcoin fortune, Wright won.
The Kleiman family said that because David was a co-founder of the cryptocurrency with Craig Wright, they should get half of the money that was made.
Wright won in court, even though he had to pay $100 million in damages because he broke intellectual property rights.
Kleiman and Wright formed a company called W&K Info Defense Research LLC. There will be no money for the Kleiman family. The company will get the money.
In 2008, Nakamoto wrote an open-source paper about a new type of digital currency that didn’t need a central bank. Bitcoin was born. It was worth less than a penny at first.
Nakamoto kept in touch with a small group of people who were very interested in Bitcoin by email and on message boards, but never by phone or in person.
On April 26, 2011, Nakamoto sent a farewell message to the Bitcoin community that said, “I’ve moved on to other things.” He hasn’t been heard from again.
The next four years were very quiet. During May 2016, Wright said that he was Nakamoto, but he hasn’t been able to prove it.
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