- Craig Wright has continued his game of lawsuit roulette with another round of legal demands
- Wright’s lawyers have demanded that Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin SV developers work to return ₿110,000 allegedly stolen in a hack on Wright in February 2020
- Wright claims that the coins are still his and that the developers should make sure he gets them back
Craig Wright yesterday issued a legal demand to a raft of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV developers who he claims should return ₿110,000 allegedly stolen from him in February last year. The letters, sent via legal representatives Ontier, claim that Wright was hacked and the private keys to the wallets stolen, and demands that the developers take the necessary steps to retrieve the bitcoin and return it to him.
Wright Wants Bitcoin Blockchain Amended
The letters follow three similar letters sent to three Bitcoin developers in June last year, in which Wright argued that they had some sort of duty to prevent the supposedly stolen coins from being moved on. This move was roundly criticized within the community both for its ideological as well as its practical implications, which has led to Wright taking the next step in his desire to retrieve the haul.
Wright had really gone big in the PR stakes in the lead up to the news, promising a big announcement that “impacts the ENTIRE space”, “changes every blockchain” and “destroys the lies”. As we now know, the huge announcement turned out to be another potential lawsuit, with the alleged February 2020 hack being at the heart of the case:
…on or around 5 February 2020, unknown hackers stole the private keys for the Addresses and deleted copies of the keys on Dr Craig Wright’s computer, preventing him from accessing the digital assets at those Addresses, which he operated on behalf of TTL. Accordingly, TTL is (absent steps being taken by the Developers) unable to access or control digital assets that are TTL’s legal property.
No details have ever been made public about this hack, and with Wright being a known liar and forger, without any evidence to back up this claim it’s impossible to verify its authenticity.
Wright Claims Ownership of Mt. Gox Hack Wallet
Interestingly, one of the wallets Wright claims to have owners is the ‘1Feex’ address that received over ₿79,956 from the Mt. Gox hack in March 2011, which raised eyebrows:
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
The June 2020 Ontier letter pre-empted such attacks however:
They will say that there is evidence suggesting that that address was part of the Mount Gox hack, and specifically a document filed in U.S. proceedings that appears on its face to be a record of a Skype chat from December 2010 involving Mark Karpeles of Mount Gox. That evidence is so unsubstantial that even commenting upon it gives it more credence than it deserves. As far as we know the Mount Gox liquidators have never asserted that 1Feex was stolen from Mount Gox, which you would imagine they would, if their records supported that assertion.
So there we go – it never happened. Simple.
Lawsuit Appears to be Non Starter
It seems that Wright’s latest attempt to screw the Bitcoin community will not end in success however, at least according to Redditor u/primepatterns, who kept a close eye on Wright’s pre-trial hearing against Peter McCormack last week:
The developers in question have yet to respond to the letter, but unless Wright can conclusively prove that he owned the wallets in the first place, which would raise more questions regarding the Mt. Gox issue, the case seems to be yet another waste of Wright’s money.
