Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund supports developers in lawsuit against Craig Wright
The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund (BLDF), a non-profit co-founded by Block (formerly Square) CEO Jack Dorsey, announced Wednesday that it is supporting the legal defense of a number of Bitcoin Core developers targeted by a lawsuit filed by Craig Wright and his company, Tulip Trading.
“Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund has stepped up to fight for more than just Bitcoin – we’re here to defend the right to build free, open source software without fear,” said Jessica Jonas, Chief Legal Officer at Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund. Decrypt.
The announcement comes on the same day that the Bitcoin Core developers filed their substantive defense in a UK court.
The lawsuit, “Tulip Trading Limited v. Bitcoin Association For BSV & Others,” Jonas says, stems from an alleged hack in 2020 that resulted in the loss of 111,000 Bitcoin that Wright claimed to own.
Although the BLDF calls the claims frivolous, Jonas says the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund is supporting 13 Bitcoin developers in two separate cases initiated by Wright or his affiliates, calling the cases attacks on basic liberties.
“We must take them seriously and defend them fiercely because the potential stakes are too high to ignore,” Jonas said.
The question in the case, says Jonas, is whether Bitcoin developers have a fiduciary duty to Bitcoin users.
“Wright claims they owe a fiduciary duty and as such should be obliged to create a ‘backdoor’ to give him access to coins he claims to have lost,” she said, adding that it would compromise Bitcoin’s core function as a fully distributed open source software to do so, since by design no individual or group can retroactively alter the blockchain.
The group hopes to rally public support against this and future legal attacks by Wright.
“By rallying the public and demonstrating broad support for the defendants, we aim to show Wright and his team that their legal tactics will not go unchallenged,” Jonas said.
Since 2016, the controversial Australian computer scientist has launched several lawsuits, including accusing websites that post the Bitcoin Whitepaper of copyright infringement after claiming to be the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Earlier this month, Wright suggested that Apple might be violating copyright law when it was discovered that a copy of the Bitcoin Whitepaper had been hidden on Apple’s computers since at least 2018.
The Bitcoin Association for BSV has not yet responded Decrypt their request for comment.
