Jack Dorsey is the hero crypto needs right now
A crypto-loving social media billionaire is making his impact again, and I’m not talking about Elon Musk. Instead, I think of Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block and co-founder of Twitter, whom Musk is quickly running into the ground.
Dorsey has occupied many roles over the years, including fashion influencer. But his latest is the legal champion of the Bitcoin community. It was shown this month in a London court where Dorsey is defending Bitcoin developers who are being sued by Craig Wright, who for years has falsely claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
I spoke with Jess Jonas, head of the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, the Dorsey-backed group that assists developers. She explained that Wright claims to have lost some Bitcoin and that the developers owe him a fiduciary duty to write code to help him recover his coins — a cockamamie notion in the first place, but even more so given that Bitcoin is based on open source. software. Despite the absurdity of the claim, and Wright’s reputation as a scoundrel and liar, the case has gained some traction in the UK High Court and represents what Jonas says is an “existential” threat to software.
Jonas added that for Bitcoin developers, who are mostly based in the US, the lawsuit is a source of anxiety and distraction, and not all have the resources to defend themselves in a foreign court. So Dorsey’s defense fund—which was created to protect Bitcoin from a variety of legal hazards—has proven invaluable.
Dorsey’s contributions to crypto go far beyond the lawsuit, of course. As Block CEO, he has turned the company into a major crypto player—from adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet to helping build the Lightning Network, which promises to make the currency viable for everyday payments. Meanwhile, his Bluesky project, a crypto-friendly open source social media protocol, is quickly catching on with people fed up with the toxic kingdoms of Twitter and Facebook.
Contrast Dorsey’s activities with Musk’s destructive reign on Twitter, where the Tesla chief has fostered a culture of chaos and abuse — the low point may have come last weekend when Musk fanboys harangued the Auschwitz memorial after they noted they hadn’t paid for Twitter Blue to get the blue badge back. All of this underscores how the crypto community, in dire need of a good guy to defend its interests, needs to think carefully about who its heroes should be. It’s hard to think of a better one than Dorsey.
Jeff John Robertpp
[email protected]
@jeffjohnroberts
DECENTRALIZED NEWS
BinanceThe managing director has hired civil defense lawyers at Latham and Watkin to defend him personally as he and the company face increasing scrutiny. (NEW)
Circle (a sponsor of this newsletter) has found a replacement for Signature banknow relies on an outfit called Customer bank to handle fiat-to-USDC conversions. (Fortune)
Africa has been a hotbed for crypto startup and token purchases. But a growing number of users have been disappointed by the prolonged downturn. (The rest of the world)
Mark Zuckerberg said on a earnings call it Meta does not abandon its metaverse ambitions for AI, but will instead embrace a combination of both. (TechCrunch)
The NFL launched a Web3 game with studio Mythical Games that allows players to acquire NFTs hosted on Polka dot blockchain. (Fortune)
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