The Bitcoin community has contributed approximately 52.6 BTC worth around $1.1 million and $30,000 cash to support an anonymous Twitter user with the pseudonym hodlonaut in his ongoing case against self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright.
The controversial computer scientist and self-acclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto filed a lawsuit against hodlonaut after the bitcoiner published a series of tweets about Wright, claiming that Wright is not the real Satoshi.
Craig Wright Accused of Fraud
In a Monday Twitter post, hodlonaut disclosed that the defending bitcoin team had raised 52.6 bitcoins, with one of the contributors donating 47 BTC which would be used to pay for legal charges in the court case starting on September 12 in Oslo, Norway.
The hodlonaut Vs. Wright’s case started on March 16 and 17, 2019, after he accused Wright of fraud and referred to him as a “pathetic scammer.”
“Craig Wright is a very sad and pathetic scammer. Clearly mentally ill. Everything about him induces deep cringes. I suffer from obviousness fatigue after still having to read posts arguing why he isn’t satoshi. As a tribute to Craig Wright being a fraud, I’m going to make next week ‘Craig Wright is a fraud week’ and tag all my tweets with #CraigWrightisafraud,” hodlonaut wrote.
Shortly after the tweets, the controversial self-acclaimed Bitcoin inventor responded to hodlonaut with a legal notice demanding a public apology and removal of the tweets.
March 29th 2019: I receive a Letter of Claim from CSW via his lawyers in SCA ONTIER. They give me 7 days to agree to remove my tweets, apologize and confirm in court that I believe CSW is in fact Satoshi. pic.twitter.com/Jz9hPFBg2U
— hodlonaut ????⚡???? ???? (@hodlonaut) January 17, 2021
His legal team also explained that Wright had not fraudulently claimed that he was Satoshi Nakamoto.
“Wright has not fraudulently claimed to be Satoshi Nakomoto. He is Satoshi Nakamoto. He produced the report Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System in October 2008, sent the first Bitcoin to Hal Finney in January 2009, and played an integral part in the development of Bitcoin,” the lawyers said.
Hodlonaut Files For Declaratory Statement
Following Wright’s suit, the Norwegian-based Twitter influencer filed a declaratory statement against Craig Wright on May 19 at a Norway court, claiming that the tweets against Wright are covered under the law, truth, and freedom of speech.
May 19th, 2019: I file a suit against Craig in Norway (Claiming a declaratory judgment that my tweets were lawful, covered by truth and freedom of speech and that I am not liable to pay damages to Wright)
— hodlonaut ????⚡???? ???? (@hodlonaut) June 11, 2022
The lawsuit also sought to prevent Craig from paying damages to Wright. The Duo has been filing suits against each other since 2019.
Witch Hunt For Hodlonaut
After hodlonaut refused to apologize publicly to Wright, the Bitcoin creator claimant and his company offered a $5,000 bounty in Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) for anyone who could unravel hodlonaut’s true identity. BSV is a fork of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) created in an attempt to restore the original Bitcoin Protocol as set out by Satoshi Nakamoto’s version.
The bounty, however, was unfertile as members of the Bitcoin community were solidly behind hodlonaut.
Meanwhile, Wright’s lawsuit against hodlonaut is one of the many legal charges the Australian software developer has filed over the years in his pursuit of being recognized as the Bitcoin inventor.
Earlier this year, Coinfomannia reported that Wright sued two cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and Kraken, over Intellectual Property (IP) claims.
According to the report, the plaintiff claims that both crypto companies misrepresent BSV as Bitcoin Core (BTC) on their respective platforms, hence feeding the public with wrong information.
