6 ms·

From the article: > Guardian Australia understands the raids are not related to the claims that Wright may have been involved in the creation of bitcoin, but a

by Mtinie 11y ago

From the article: > Guardian Australia understands the raids are not related to the claims that Wright may have been involved in the creation of bitcoin, but are related to an Australian Tax Office investigation. So the story is that the Australian Tax Office just happened to be running an investigation looking into some facet of Craig Wright's finances. An investigation that apparently revealed some sort of abnormality, resulting in a raid on a property connected to Mr. Wright... ...18 hours after a major technology publication "outed" him as the possible person behind "Satoshi Nakamoto". Welp, that looks completely coincidental to me. /s

nthitz 11y ago
gwern is responding on this /r/bitcoin thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3vzgnd/bitcoins_creator_satoshi_nakamoto_is_probably/cxsi37b?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3vzgnd/bitcoins_cr...
- Mtinie 11y ago
  Thanks for the link. The timing is suspicious, but it's certainly plausible that while the ATO's actions aren't related to an investigation into Wright's bitcoin holdings, that the Wired article acted as a trigger to move up the timeline of the raid. If that's what happened perhaps they were moving quickly to preserve evidence of whatever else they were investigating in advance of the hordes of people on their way to break into the house and steal whatever computer hardware they could find hoping to gain access to the "Satoshi's Stash" bitcoins. --- EDIT: Too funny... I posted this and then saw another comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10702038 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10702038) by imron (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=imron https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=imron) posted before mine that described almost the exact same conclusion (nearly word for word). Props to them for beating me to the punch!
  - imron 11y ago
    > nearly word for word) Great minds think alike! ;-)
- lmm 11y ago
  Does that mean we now know that gwern isn't Wright?
21echoes 11y ago
Well, given that one of the primary sources in the article was a set of quotes from the ATO investigation itself...
dirtyaura 11y ago
To me it seems that leaks are partially caused by the tax investigation, not the other way around.
golergka 11y ago
Yeah, because virtual currency can't possibly have anything to do with tax evasion.
Cthulhu_ 11y ago
If I had an ongoing investigation into someone suspected of tax evasion and suddenly the internet at large revealed his identity, I'd be sure to raid asap - Wright was probably not aware that the tax office was investigating him, but I'm sure that if he is Satoshi and sits on a million BTC, and his identity is revealed, I'd try and GTFO. Which wouldn't be in the tax office's interest. Not sure if the above makes sense. The two are probably related.
- yc1010 11y ago
  I am thinking here is what happened The guy seeing an opportunity and possibly having some early coins declared himself to tax office as Satoshi, but maybe claimed he lost keys to majority of coins. He then proceeded to have one of his companies claim tax back for R&D of bitcoin. The whole thing probably backfired then.
- yungchin 11y ago
  According to the article, he was very aware of the investigation: tax officers interviewed him about his bitcoin assets.
cant_kant 11y ago
There has been a long standing dispute between him and the Tax Office about whether his Bitcoins should be treated as assets ( higher tax rate ) or as currency. His lawyers have lobbied senior Cabinet Ministers in connection with this. I understand that he was planning to leave the country in January. Movers had been to his rented home in Gordon, Sydney and have removed much of his furniture. I assume that the Tax Office did not want their target to flee with all the evidence that they wanted to lay their hands on.
- cba9 11y ago
  Source for all that?
DyslexicAtheist 11y ago
Bitcoin is to be taxed as an asset not a currency in Australia. The original gizmodo[0] piece has more on this: The hacker-tipster also included multiple PDF files that contain what appear to be a transcript of a meeting about Bitcoin regulation between Wright, his attorney, and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), as well as the minutes of a subsequent meeting of the ATO and Wright’s attorney. Wright appears to have been trying to persuade the Australian government to treat his Bitcoin holdings as currency, as opposed to an asset subject to greater taxation. Without this regulatory move, his business interests would be scuttled. During an interlude in one such meeting, Wright makes an oddly casual admission of his identity as Satoshi (highlighting added): A request to confirm the authenticity of the document sent to Auscript, the transcription service whose logo appears at the top of the file, was denied on the basis of company policy. A request sent to the ATO was also denied on the basis of state confidentiality. [0] http://gizmodo.com/this-australian-says-he-and-his-dead-friend-invented-bi-1746958692 http://gizmodo.com/this-australian-says-he-and-his-dead-frie... I speculate this tax ruling and the ongoing investigation was also the reason why he wanted to migrate to the UK soon. The article has probably given the ATO reason to believe that he is under flight-risk.
- DyslexicAtheist 11y ago
  ignore me. same conclusions below it seems

by Mtinie 11y ago

nthitz 11y ago

gwern is responding on this /r/bitcoin thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3vzgnd/bitcoins_creator_satoshi_nakamoto_is_probably/cxsi37b?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3vzgnd/bitcoins_cr...

Mtinie 11y ago
Thanks for the link. The timing is suspicious, but it's certainly plausible that while the ATO's actions aren't related to an investigation into Wright's bitcoin holdings, that the Wired article acted as a trigger to move up the timeline of the raid. If that's what happened perhaps they were moving quickly to preserve evidence of whatever else they were investigating in advance of the hordes of people on their way to break into the house and steal whatever computer hardware they could find hoping to gain access to the "Satoshi's Stash" bitcoins. --- EDIT: Too funny... I posted this and then saw another comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10702038 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10702038) by imron (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=imron https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=imron) posted before mine that described almost the exact same conclusion (nearly word for word). Props to them for beating me to the punch!
- imron 11y ago
  > nearly word for word) Great minds think alike! ;-)
lmm 11y ago
Does that mean we now know that gwern isn't Wright?

21echoes 11y ago

Well, given that one of the primary sources in the article was a set of quotes from the ATO investigation itself...

dirtyaura 11y ago

To me it seems that leaks are partially caused by the tax investigation, not the other way around.

golergka 11y ago

Yeah, because virtual currency can't possibly have anything to do with tax evasion.

Cthulhu_ 11y ago

If I had an ongoing investigation into someone suspected of tax evasion and suddenly the internet at large revealed his identity, I'd be sure to raid asap - Wright was probably not aware that the tax office was investigating him, but I'm sure that if he is Satoshi and sits on a million BTC, and his identity is revealed, I'd try and GTFO. Which wouldn't be in the tax office's interest. Not sure if the above makes sense. The two are probably related.

yc1010 11y ago
I am thinking here is what happened The guy seeing an opportunity and possibly having some early coins declared himself to tax office as Satoshi, but maybe claimed he lost keys to majority of coins. He then proceeded to have one of his companies claim tax back for R&D of bitcoin. The whole thing probably backfired then.
yungchin 11y ago
According to the article, he was very aware of the investigation: tax officers interviewed him about his bitcoin assets.

cant_kant 11y ago

There has been a long standing dispute between him and the Tax Office about whether his Bitcoins should be treated as assets ( higher tax rate ) or as currency. His lawyers have lobbied senior Cabinet Ministers in connection with this. I understand that he was planning to leave the country in January. Movers had been to his rented home in Gordon, Sydney and have removed much of his furniture. I assume that the Tax Office did not want their target to flee with all the evidence that they wanted to lay their hands on.

cba9 11y ago
Source for all that?

DyslexicAtheist 11y ago

Bitcoin is to be taxed as an asset not a currency in Australia. The original gizmodo[0] piece has more on this: The hacker-tipster also included multiple PDF files that contain what appear to be a transcript of a meeting about Bitcoin regulation between Wright, his attorney, and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), as well as the minutes of a subsequent meeting of the ATO and Wright’s attorney. Wright appears to have been trying to persuade the Australian government to treat his Bitcoin holdings as currency, as opposed to an asset subject to greater taxation. Without this regulatory move, his business interests would be scuttled. During an interlude in one such meeting, Wright makes an oddly casual admission of his identity as Satoshi (highlighting added): A request to confirm the authenticity of the document sent to Auscript, the transcription service whose logo appears at the top of the file, was denied on the basis of company policy. A request sent to the ATO was also denied on the basis of state confidentiality. [0] http://gizmodo.com/this-australian-says-he-and-his-dead-friend-invented-bi-1746958692 http://gizmodo.com/this-australian-says-he-and-his-dead-frie... I speculate this tax ruling and the ongoing investigation was also the reason why he wanted to migrate to the UK soon. The article has probably given the ATO reason to believe that he is under flight-risk.

DyslexicAtheist 11y ago
ignore me. same conclusions below it seems