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Craig Wright said he invented Bitcoin – lawyers proved him wrong
- Evidlo 2y agoWish there was more detail about the typeface and notebook sleuthing.
- speerer 2y agoThe expert evidence is actually available online: https://archive.org/details/copa-v-wright-trial-documents https://archive.org/details/copa-v-wright-trial-documents
- move-on-by 2y ago> …lawyers picked apart Wright’s claims that some of his computer documents had been typed before 2008, using evidence from font designers. The witnesses testified that some fonts “hadn’t even been created until years after the alleged date of the document”… https://craigwright.net/ https://craigwright.net/ Fascinating.
- churchill 2y agoFun fact: A Microsoft font also helped expose corruption by Pakistan's former PM, Nawaz Sharif [1]. Apparently, documents dated to 2006 were typed up using Calibri, a font that only went into public distribution around 2007. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15961354/pakistan-calibri-font-scandal-forged-documents https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15961354/pakistan-calibri...
- esafak 2y agoSame thing in Turkey. https://balyozdavasivegercekler.com/2012/10/04/dani-rodrik-did-microsoft-steal-its-fonts-from-the-turkish-army/ https://balyozdavasivegercekler.com/2012/10/04/dani-rodrik-d...
- ruthmarx 2y agoI guess it's prudent to remember to always use Times New Roman when committing fraud.
- m463 2y agoNote that although the Roman Empire started around 27 BC, Times New Roman is only good for fraud going back to 1932 AD.
- nullc 2y agoNo match to Wright's documents from the neolithic era, discussed during the trial.
- thebruce87m 2y agoPapyrus?
- amy-petrik-214 2y agoStill doesn't work, NSA has a backdoor agreement with "Big Font" to put little tags in fonts to pinpoint the time, data, and individual authoring the pdf or similar. Similar to how they watermark laser printers, the waterfont the fonts
- ruthmarx 2y agoWhat's stopping anyone from using a front from a Windows 95 install? How would what you say apply?
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 2y agoAlso fonts helped discredit Dan Rather’s Killian memo. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian_documents_authenticity_issues https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian_documents_authentici...
- tastyfreeze 2y agoIf he's not Satoshi and doesn't have Satoshi's keys the what is the point of saying he is Satoshi? Seems like a long way to go for some notoriety and no financial gain.
- brokensegue 2y agohe did try to gain financially. he forked bitcoin into Bitcoin Satoshi Vision.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- hollerith 2y agoHe also started and made himself CEO of at least 3 cryptocurrency startups. One of those startups (nChain) tried extract patent licensing fees from other cryptocurrency players.
- nullc 2y agoAnd the story allowed him to setup a Advanced Fee Fraud (nigerian scammer) style gift where his sponsors (e.g. Calvin Ayre) financed Wright to live a million dollar a year spending lifestyle for the last decade. Not to mention the constant pump and dumps based on knowledge and control of good and bad news regarding his claims.
- Tuna-Fish 2y agoHe attempted to sue Bitcoin core devs to alter the algorithm to hand over Satoshi's coins. On the basis that he lost the keys and that the maintainers have a duty to him to help him recover them. Every part of the lawsuit was just batshit insane. The most insane part was that an UK court allowed the lawsuit to be heard, and forced dozens of people not living in UK to pay big money to defend themselves.
- solarengineer 2y ago
- outsomnia 2y ago> In one instance, the lawyers set about trying to disprove the legitimacy of handwritten notes. ... Sherrell’s team tracked down the printer of the notepad in China, proving that the exact version of that notebook had not been released until years after Wright’s claims. lol
- latexr 2y ago> A legal notice on Wright’s website¹ now states that he is not Satoshi and that he has been ordered not to carry out any more legal proceedings based on these false claims. I can see the notice, but how does that work? Did the court order that specific phrasing and page? Have they seized the domain? Are they going to run it indefinitely? Is there anything stopping Craig from purchasing a new domain and using that? ¹ https://craigwright.net https://craigwright.net
- diggan 2y agoIt doesn't look like a seized domain/website, then his own personal "logo" wouldn't be there, and it would be clear some agency was behind it, but seems that has been published by himself. Skimmed through the linked court docs but didn't find anything about him being forced to publish something like this, although that would make sense if he was. Seems weird to write in 3rd person though, but wouldn't be the weirdest thing that guy engaged in so who knows, diggan certainly doesn't.
- greyface- 2y agoHere's one relevant court judgment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40981612 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40981612 I haven't read other case documents, so it may not be the final word on the matter. In particular, it doesn't contain the actual notice text.
- speerer 2y agoYour first guess is precisely right: the court ordered him to post that notice on his Twitter accounts and website. It's for a limited time of a few months.
- ydnaclementine 2y agoWould be trivial to prove but he can't. Like saying you own a particular house but you don't have the key to the front door.
- fecal_henge 2y agoWhat if you lost the key?
- nullc 2y agoWhat if you insisted you had the key and would prove that you were possibly the owner that way, but when the time came you setup a cardboard door in front of the real one and opened it using a bump key? That's essentially what has happened with Wright. There are various pieces of evidence that, while not definitive in isolation would be persuasive, which he has insisted he could use to prove himself-- but when the time came he has just been caught faking it over and over again. It's remarkable that he's been able to continue so long.
- fecal_henge 2y agoI agree he was faking it. Seems like he was an inadequate con man. He must have gotten some investment on a very high risk high reward basis I assume. But speaking of inadequate adults, sometimes I lose my key.
- napierzaza 2y ago[dead]
- Simon_ORourke 2y agoIn fairness, anyone trying to convince me of any given fact of authorship could do well by leaving the bright red shirt and braces combo in the wardrobe.
- ionwake 2y agoI just don't understand why the guy claiming he is the creator and main programmer of a cutting edge anti-establishment crypto asset, would present himself as a suit and tie wearing business man who drinks champagne. Like wtf is going on.
- akira2501 2y agoSophistication arbitrage. It's a common technique of the con man.
- nullc 2y agoHe's trying to trigger some super-stimulus response in his targets based on being a rich supergenius entrepreneur. It's more effective than you might think. The fact that his actions don't actually look much like the rich, a supergenuis, or an entrepreneur doesn't matter-- the target is people that don't actually know what that looks like. It's the same reason that he claims to have earned more than 20 postgraduate degrees in the last three years alone. People with the relevant experience recognize that claim a lie or an admission of an unproductive mentally ill degree hoarding fake. But to his targets it signifies him as brilliant beyond any judgement or comparison, such that any red flag gets dismissed as an understandable quirk of a truly singular figure.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- unyttigfjelltol 2y agoSo, to recap, a large global industry is built on a foundation that the true identity of a particular currently-anonymous person must never be identified and certainly not posthumously.
- sb057 2y ago[flagged]
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoAnything in this story that wasn't news 2-6 months ago? Craig Wright Lied About Creating Bitcoin and Faked Evidence, Judge Rules https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40416629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40416629 Judge rules Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39704116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39704116 Bitcoin Creator Isn't Craig Wright, London Judge Rules https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39705642 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39705642
- refulgentis 2y agoYeah, inter alia, this includes commentary/interview with the lawyers
- grahamj 2y agoThis man is a true hero …to liars everywhere. He lied, he forged documents, he filed suits. Most people will never go to these lengths to back up their lies, no matter how big the potential windfall. You have to respect the dedication if nothing else.
- jamesmotherway 2y agoIt's certainly interesting, but he's not a hero.
- nullc 2y agoIn his mind he is... from a 2016 publication: ‘Just out of interest,’ I said. ‘If you are a fraud ... How hard a fraud would it have been to perpetrate?’ ‘It would be the best one in human history,’ Craig said.
- Levitating 2y agoAdam Back wrote Bitcoin (as well as haschash). It's not that much of a mystery.
- tim333 2y agoOr maybe not.
- RustyRussell 2y agoPlease don't do this. He's repeatedly denied it, and your ignorant claim can only bring him and his family trouble. (Also, I've known Adam for a number of years through multiple Bitcoin conversations and I can personally vouch that it's not him!)
- Levitating 2y agoI am sorry, I mean him or his family no harm. If I could still delete the comment I would.
- yieldcrv 2y agoIt was always sad to me that most of the people I met who believed him were non-native English speakers. Just my experience with his followers in person. Made me suspect they couldnt detect nuance or bullshit in our language.
- jamesmotherway 2y agoIt's frightening to think about the implications of this when generalized toward mainstream topics.
- rickmorton3 2y ago[flagged]
- frank_bb 2y ago[dead]
- lightweb 2y agoCraig is still Satoshi, no matter what a court has (temporarily) ordered him to state. Craig has followed the legal process 100% for years at this point, paid every (massive) court-ordered payment. The majority of cases feature him as defendant because Bitcoin ultimately threatens the establishment and must be controlled at any cost. This is the true source of the negative sentiment and constant attacks. He just today waived privilege on X and began outlining accusations against his previous legal representation for not following his explicit instructions, and instead followed orders from a man who has been recently convicted in a UK court, is facing bankruptcy in that country, and has fled as a fugitive from justice. The rabbit hole goes deep. Craig and the BSV Association have worked together with AWS and Aerospike to conclusively prove the Bitcoin protocol is capable of scaling to at least 120GB sized blocks, at over 1 million P2PKH transactions per second. The BTC core team said this was impossible, yet BSVA has provided data from a public cloud provider, with geographically distributed nodes to prove it is. What's more, it's been stated that it does so at an initial cost that is drastically less than most anticipated. These costs are highly likely to be lowered through optimization. The majority of opinions expressed in this thread will most certainly be abandoned in time when the full body of work can no longer be ignored. One only needs to perform a simple patent search to discover the depth of research and innovation established on blockchain, and then realize that the sheer number of applications and grants are not the work of someone attempting to pull a con. It is true innovation, the same way Bitcoin was and is.
- murphysharon11 2y ago[dead]
- Andrewkimberly 2y ago[dead]
- barbarabernard 2y ago[dead]
- Marcus_Ford 2y ago[dead]