Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor Craig Wright has been awarded registrations for a white paper and early computer code related to the cryptocurrency. The U.S. Copyright Office named the Australian computer scientist as the author of the marketing proposal and code for bitcoin, under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
A representative for Wright revealed that he will now try to stop the crypto community from referring to the original token as bitcoin because it no longer has the attributes described in the research paper. Instead, he claimed that Bitcoin SV, or Satoshi Vision, which Wright later developed, is the real bitcoin.
“BTC is not bitcoin,” Wright said in an email to Bloomberg. “BTC is passing off as bitcoin. It is an airdrop copy that has been designed to slowly alter the protocol, allowing the system to be anonymized to such an extent that criminal activity can happen. The goal is to create a system that allows people to commit crimes, extort money, have automated ransomware and worse. This is not the goal of bitcoin.”
Bitcoin SV jumped 56 percent after the news was announced, reaching almost $97, according to CoinMarketCap. Yet, despite Wright’s registration win with the Copyright Office, many aren’t convinced he is actually Satoshi Nakamoto.
“The Copyright Office, they typically don’t scrutinize if he is a true author; it’s more of an administrative process,” said Michael Cohen, an intellectual property lawyer in Beverly Hills. “They typically grant it if it meets the minimal requirements.”
In fact, all applicants need to do is submit forms online and upload software code, with it typically taking six to eight months to obtain the registration, Cohen explained. Wright is committed to proving the naysayers wrong, and has begun filing lawsuits or threatening libel claims against those people who have been disputing that he’s not Satoshi Nakamoto.
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