Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin, is legally going after cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken over their misrepresentation of BTC as Bitcoin.
Dr. Craig Wright, who was outed by Wired Magazine in 2015 as the creator of Bitcoin, alongside two companies affiliated with him named Wright International Investments Limited and Wright International Investments UK Limited, has filed intellectual property claims against the two cryptocurrency exchanges.
Wright asserts that Coinbase and Kraken have been promoting a fake version of Bitcoin to its customers. The two cryptocurrency exchanges have been encouraging investors and consumers to trade and invest in BTC by passing it off as Bitcoin.
According to the claim issued Tuesday, BTC was created in 2017 as a new software implementation, and it is different from and separate to the original Bitcoin protocol that Dr. Wright fixed when he first created the technology 13 years ago. The claimants seek an injunction restraining the defendants from promoting BTC as Bitcoin, through improper use of the Bitcoin sign or any visually similar sign or wording.
In the press release provided by Wright’s legal team Ontier LPP, this misrepresentation by Coinbase and Kraken has led to confusion among digital currency asset holders as to the authenticity of the assets many have purchased and traded in.
It also mentions that Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) is the only digital asset that remains true to the original Bitcoin protocol and is the only valid software implementation of the Bitcoin protocol.
As of this writing, neither Coinbase nor Kraken have responded to the lawsuit. This is a developing story that we are following closely as it has wide-reaching implications for the digital currency sector.
As the Bitcoin creator continues to call out the alleged malpractices of some exchanges, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced it is doubling the size of its crypto unit team to police wrongdoings in the industry. The Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit within the Division of Enforcement will grow from 30 to 50 dedicated positions.
Chair Gary Gensler said that increasing the size of the unit will better equip the commission as it continues to identify disclosure and control issues with respect to cybersecurity.
Across the Atlantic, the Swiss National Bank has decided they will not hold BTC as a reserve currency. Chairman Thomas Jordan said that buying BTC is not a problem for the bank; however, he said that “From the current perspective we do not believe bitcoin (BTC) meets the requirements of currency reserves, that’s why we have until now decided not to have bitcoin (BTC) on our balance sheet.”
Following El Salvador’s move, the Central African Region (CAR) has adopted BTC as a legal tender to spur economic growth and recovery. Announced by the Office of the President, CAR becomes the first African country and the second country in the world to legalize the use of digital currencies.
Its central bank, however, was caught off-guard after the announcement and was completely unaware of the new law. CAR government would need the Bank of Central African States to create a Bitcoin wallet to support the rollout of the digital currency as a legal tender.
In other news, Bitcoin takes another big step towards being the peer-to-peer electronic cash system with the launch of the Simple Payment Verification (SPV) LiteClient Toolbox (LCT).
The BSV Blockchain Association has released the MVP phase of the LCT, which allows users to easily interact with the Bitcoin SV blockchain as it continues to grow and scale. Developed by the Bitcoin SV Infrastructure Team, the toolkit includes several elements that deliver the SPV model as described in the original Bitcoin white paper. The LCT is a suite of modular components that allows users and service providers like exchanges to interact with Bitcoin in an efficient and scalable way—removing the need to manage expensive infrastructure.
This week, check out the latest CoinGeek Backstage interview with BSV Blockchain Association Founding President Jimmy Nguyen on the rising Middle East and North Africa region. The Middle East will also play host to this month’s BSV Global Blockchain Conference in Dubai. Watch the full video on the CoinGeek YouTube channel.
New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeek’s Bitcoin for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoin—as originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto—and blockchain.