Prominent Bitcoin promoters cannot come to terms with Craig Wright claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto and remain unconvinced. According to the bitcoin maximalists, Wright does not match the mythologies promoters have developed about the Bitcoin creator over the years he was missing in action. Wright has also not provided evidence that he is behind the pseudonym Satoshi and the crypto world thinks he is just in an elaborate hoax.
The Kleiman family is suing Craig Wright over a partnership claim with the late Dave Kleiman in creating Bitcoin. Late Dave Kleiman was a colleague and a friend to Weight before his untimely death in 2013. Dr Wright is currently at a Florida Federal court defending himself against the brother of the late Dave, Ira Kleiman. Ira claims that his brother helped Wright create Bitcoin and therefore his estate is entitled to half BTC tokens created by the two. Satoshi Nakamoto’s 1,125,150 Bitcoins that he originally mined after creating the software remains unspent and are worth over $66 billion today.
Significantly, Wright owns to the claims of being the 2008 Bitcoin white paper author, popularly recognized as Satoshi Nakamoto. He has never publically denied his Satoshi identity since it was revealed by Wired and Gizmodo’s published story six years ago. Lack of denial that Craig Wright was involved in the creation of Bitcoin is vital to the lawsuit, trying to establish if Wright had a partnership with Dave Kleiman, which puts the two disputing parties on the same side of anticipated conclusive proof of real identity of the creator of Bitcoin.
Mainstream media reports on the case have triggered conflicts among Bitcoin promoters who do not support publicizing any links between Satoshi and Craig Wright. Even crypto media was not spared with Wright intriguing case. For instance, CoinDesk, a prominent cryptocurrency organization, was forced to revise a published article that claimed that the Craig Wright trial would determine the fate of his 1.1 million suspected amount of BTC.
If Wright is the inventor of Bitcoin, many individuals will start investigating the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV), which they had previously rejected with the conviction that Wright is not the creator of Bitcoin. BSV presents a threat to BTC because it is a scalable blockchain with cheaper transactions and can be endorsed as the ‘real Bitcoin’ described in the Bitcoin white paper. This search will create broad market awareness about BSV and when more individuals start buying Bitcoin SV, the price will inevitably increase.
Wright has not proved that he is indeed Satoshi since 2015, even though he promised he would in 2016. His failure to move tokens in the Nakamoto Bitcoin account indicates that he may not have the cryptographic keys leaving BTC maximalists sceptical. However, it is indicated on Bitcoin white paper that the ID is protected and possession of cryptographic keys is not proof of account ownership. Therefore, according to Wright, he does not need to access or supply the Bitcoins linked to Nakamoto account to prove ownership.
The cryptocurrency community will stop at nothing until the identity of Satoshi is revealed with unquestionable proof. Greg Maxwell, a Bitcoin developer, created a new directive with a conspiracy theory that Wright must have bought the keys to 15 Bitcoin addresses. Wright later used Maxwell’s voiced sentiments to counter the popular statement by maximalists that claim if the keys are not yours, then the Bitcoins are not yours either. However, critics continue questioning his identity as Satoshi despite any evidence he provides.
One might wonder what the motivation of Maxwell, among other, anti-wright campaigns are all about? It is understandable why they want to deny credit to Wright and downplay the success of BSV. Bitcoin Satoshi Vision poses a threat to business in Digital Currency Group which depends on the success of the BTC. If the mass adopts BSV, it will make BTC unpopular and the existence of BTC will be no longer significant.
That is not to say that all the Wright’s naysayers and critics are heavily invested in Blockstream’s or CoinDesk. Many BTC supporters deny Wright claims to be Satoshi even though they are not dealing in cryptocurrency. According to this group, like individuals financially invested in Bitcoin, Wright fails to meet their expectation of who Satoshi is as described in speculations over the years Satoshi was inactive in public.
The sad reality of solipsism ideology in Satoshi case
A consistent lie creates an illusion of truth which eventually plays a significant role in a person’s real-life beliefs. Satoshi’s absence from the limelight after the creation of Bitcoin allowed people to form an image of him and visualize themselves as the ideal versions of the Bitcoin creator. Anyone who now claims to be the creator of Bitcoin and contradicts their expectations is instantly a threat to their illusion self.
However, the solipsism ideology can explain why a candidate like Adam Back could state that Wright is not Nakamoto. Although Back has denied claims that he could potentially be Satoshi, he describes the Bitcoin creator as a cyberpunk interested in keeping the public from interfering in matters that are not for public concern. The operator of bitcoin.org, Cobra, also dismisses claims that Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto. To him, Satoshi is just but a poster boy who invented something genuinely new to the system and with it, the conventional currency would go down the drain without contextualizing the impact of its success.
Satoshi reemergence must have been a horror to the cryptocurrency community, and to learn that Bitcoin’s genesis block as coded in “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”, the original Bitcoin coinbase, was a timestamp to indicate the start of technological breakthrough in the currency world. Imagine the shock they had on learning that Satoshi was not interested in disrupting the bank system and was more involved in solving the currency issuance problems.
Another astonishing fact to maximalists was that the Bitcoin blockchain could not be exploited to violate monetary policies. Satoshi had no desire to facilitate criminal transactions and even made several updates to the Bitcoin software to make it more secure and allow tracking of any criminal activities. Satoshi left his critics with nothing to say by declaring that he would work with the bank system. This was shocking to maximalists because Satoshi believed that Bitcoin was a better alternative and constantly evoked the system for different issues. Satoshi also surprised early adopters of Bitcoin as they learned that he had not designed the cryptocurrency to make them rich overnight.
Maximalists believed in all improbable and sometimes plausible beliefs and made presumptions that Satoshi had the exact beliefs. Sadly, Satoshi opposed the beliefs or failed to support them fully. This saw many Bitcoin promoters disassociating themselves from Satoshi and openly discussing their disappointments in him. Satoshi’s inability to meet the many demands led to many doubting his identity. Based on their claims and arguments, any person claiming to be Satoshi must be a fraud because Satoshi thinks like them.
From late 2010, attempts to undermine Satoshi’s influence on Bitcoin by both supporters and critics started increasing. A fake Satoshi narrative emerged and the popular phrase ‘we are all Satoshi’ was made into a meme that was meant to counter any significant influence of Craig Wright. This increased the chances of people forming opinions or inheriting opinions from people who had already formed opinions about Satoshi.
In good (probably imperfect) company
To be sure, some individuals’ resistance to Wright’s impressive influence and reputation standpoint on BSV was solely based on their refusal to accept him as their blockchain technological lord and saviour, who happens to have a quirky fashion sense. Of course, Satoshi personality is salient in establishing whether he is or is not a fraud and must not be overlooked.
During a trial at the Florida federal court, Wright’s defence team advanced their arguments on Dr Ami Klin, who diagnosed Craig Wright with Autism. The autism research specialist, Dr Klin, said that Wright, like other individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome, displays high intellect level and unreliable social skills where he can address people with “supreme confidence” while failing to “read cues for reciprocal communications.” Besides, Wright is not the first to depict highly intellectual behaviour. Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder, was a recognized genius. One of Jobs employers, Nolan Bushnell, described him as often the smartest person in the room.
Steve Jobs embodied autism behaviour that led to the conclusion that he met the criteria even though he was never diagnosed with autism. A friend to Jobs, John I’ve, commented that the Apple Co-founder was easily worked up about something and in return would hurt somebody when frustrated as a way of getting relief. And many other geniuses, such as Albert Einstein, are full of personality traits that more than irritate the general public. For instance, in Einstein case, he made some ridiculous rules that his wife was to abide by, including an agreement to “renounce all personal relations with me insofar as they are not completely necessary for social reasons.”
Take the case in Austrian town in 1820 when Wiener Neustadt arrested an untidy tramp who peered through people’s windows throughout the night. The vagrant kept claiming that he was Beethoven, and the police had to summon the local symphony conductor who confirmed that the raving mad man was indeed Beethoven. Beethoven, the great composer, was then released, and the chief told his officers that they needed to differentiate geniuses and madmen. Following such a scenario, Wright’s neighbours must be grateful that he has polymath capabilities and is not musical.
Evidence that Craig Wright is Satoshi
Kurt Wuckert Jr was requested by a viewer to relate the best evidence he has seen proving Wright as Satoshi on his live-streamed daily court action recaps. The CoinGeek’s chief Bitcoin historian, Wuckert, admits in his response that Wright shows a supreme understanding of Bitcoin’s original protocol as outlined by Satoshi. Of course, this could happen if he was originally the one who developed it or was on the team that did as Wuckert says, “It’s like asking someone about the intricacies of their childhood home, where they lived for 20 years, and only they can explain it.”
However, Wuckert also addressed the downside of the Wrights trial and the highly intellectual personality that his legal team emphasized during the trial. There could be aspects about the trial that people disagree with and Satoshi may have potentially “faked things and even lied to the Austrian Tax office.”
In this case, Wright does not have to embody what people have idealized as Satoshi. His superiority in blockchain technology and unique insights are valid arguments and exceptional, even for what is expected of Satoshi and for that, he deserves a hearing.
Despite any evidence on CWS being Satoshi, BTC maxis will not stop downplaying BSV achievements and misrepresenting its success in the crypto space. And although BSV reputation is associated with Wright, its technical achievements and adoption cannot be overlooked. So, even with Wright out of the picture, BSV will endure with stronger scalability fundamentals. It is worth noting that BSV fans have not displayed any idealized version of Satoshi like BTC maxis, who have even gone a step further to report negative and biased information on the media. This only vindicates what Wright comments on BSV, suggesting it is the original Bitcoin design created by Satoshi, and no one needs to be threatened to adopt it.
Whether Wright turns out to be Satoshi or not, BTC maxis will continue to paint the trial as a setback for Craig Wright to suppress any success story regarding BSV. Maxi promoters with heavy investments have to protect them and their reputations, so they have no choice but spread negative media filters about Dr Wright and BSV. BTC is likely to win now with the heavy scrutiny, but it lacks utility, so BSV with greater utility will eventually win. This trial significantly bides a strong case for BSV and Dr Wright links BSV and it’s time BTC maxis made peace with CWS being Satoshi.
