Craig Wright is suing cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken for passing-off fake Bitcoin regarding their use of the name Bitcoin in relation to assets that do not conform to the system described in the white paper.
The full details of the claim won’t be known until the more substantive particulars of the claim are filed in the near future in accordance with English civil procedure rules.
Wright accuses the exchanges of ‘passing off’ projects which do not conform to the Bitcoin system described by him in the white paper, damaging his interest in Bitcoin to the tune of hundreds of billions of pounds.
“These actions are undoubtedly game changing for the digital asset market.
I want to correct the deception that consumers are being subjected to, using the appropriate legal channels and require those operating exchanges to stop passing off BTC as Bitcoin, to change the name, to be clear in their communications and to list BSV which is Bitcoin.
BTC is not in any way related to the system I set out in my Bitcoin Whitepaper which I released in 2008.
Given that this lawsuit has the potential to vitiate these platforms’ biggest cash cow—BTC—the news is significant.
Kraken is believed to be in the process of going public and is similarly obligated to disclose the implications of the suit.
The action appears to be the natural consequence of letters sent to a collection of cryptocurrency exchanges in 2021, warning them over their promotion of products using the name Bitcoin.