Craig Wright Allowed to Serve 16 Bitcoin Developers Over $4B of Stolen BTC

Craig Wright’s legal attempts to sue a dozen developers working on the networks of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Cash ABC, and Bitcoin SV have been approved. By tapping a law firm called ONTIER, the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto will go after the developers to make them recover over $4 billion of BTC supposedly stolen from his computer last year.

CSW Granted Permission to Go After Bitcoin Developers

CryptoPotato reported in late February when Wright and ONTIER announced plans to pursue legal action against the developers of Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), and Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH ABC).

The firm acted on behalf of Tulip Trading Limited (TTL) – a Seychelles-based entity with Wright being the primary beneficial owner. In the statement, both parties claimed that Wright’s computer was hacked in 2020, and the perpetrators somehow stole his private keys to two addresses, which held over $4 billion in bitcoin.

Consequently, the law firm requested that the developers “enable TTL to regain access to and control of its bitcoins on the grounds that they owe Bitcoin owners both tortious and fiduciary duties under English law.”

Although their claims seemed a bit controversial, to say the least, the firm has been allowed to go forward and serve the developers, according to a statement made by ONTIER on May 12th.

It reads that the firm has “commenced the process of serving legal proceedings on 16 Bitcoin developers.” The company was granted permission to serve them out of the jurisdiction by the Business and Property Courts of the High Court in London after 145-page application submission.

The statement highlighted once again that “Dr. Wright is the inventor of Bitcoin” and described TTL as the real victim in this case.

“Tulip Trading is, purely and simply, a victim of theft. The hacking was first reported to the police in February last year. TTL has not been granted permission to seek recovery of its access to and control of its digital assets from those in a position to remedy its loss. The fact that someone has stolen TTL’s digitally-held, encrypted private Bitcoin keys does not prevent developers from deploying code to enable the rightful owner to regain control of its bitcoin.”

To Help the Masses

As with the first statement in February, ONTIER and Wright asserted that if this case succeeds, it could help numerous others victims that have been hacked in the past.

“In what may prove to be a huge relief to many, a ruling in Tulip Trading’s favor would have considerable implications for those who have lost access to their Bitcoin or had coins stolen.”

This is far from being Wright’s first controversial legal endeavor related to the cryptocurrency industry. After claiming, without conclusive evidence, though, that he is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto, his lawyers recently warned two bitcoin-related websites to remove the asset’s whitepaper as he supposedly owns legal rights to the document and the Bitcoin name.