Timeline Of Hodlonaut, Craig Wright Case – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Elsa Waldorf.
On September 12, 2022, a seven-day trial begins in Oslo, Norway between Craig Wright and the pseudonymous Bitcoiner, hodlonaut.
Wright’s name may be familiar to readers, as well as the “space cat” hodlonaut on Twitter. This article will provide an overview of why this case is important beyond the names involved. The team at Defending BTC, a community campaign to raise funds for legal fees, researched the case timeline to piece together the story so far and bring the reader up to date on the details of the case.
Craig Wright’s Claims to Invent Bitcoin
Over the years, various individuals have come forward claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or group that published the Bitcoin White Paper in 2008 and launched the network to the world in 2009. Although many have claimed to be Nakamoto, no one has definitively proven such claims to the satisfaction of the Bitcoin community, thus Nakamoto’s identity remains a mystery. (Without getting too much into the weeds, there are a few simple actions that will help prove identity — but no one has actually taken those steps.)
Recently, lawsuits have arisen surrounding the claims – or questioning of the claims – made by certain individuals to be the real identities behind Nakamoto.
Craig Wright is one of those people. He has claimed to be Nakamoto both in and out of court, having pursued numerous lawsuits with various European bitcoiners. Most recently, Peter McCormack, host of the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast and owner of Real Bedford Football Club, has been engaged in legal action with Wright – the court decision in that case was released on August 1, 2022.
UK Supreme Court Justice Martin Chamberlain ruled that McCormack’s comments caused “serious damage” to Wright’s reputation, but also that Wright “put forward a deliberately false case and presented deliberately false evidence.” As a result, Wright was entitled to recover only nominal damages of 1 British pound (about $1.23).
Wright vs. Hodlonaut: Timeline
As for Craig Wright vs. The Hodlonaut situation, there are actually two things happening at the same time. On one front, hodlonaut filed a statement against Craig Wright in Norway and on the other, Craig Wright filed a libel suit against hodlonaut in the UK What follows is a timeline of the cases – italicized text corresponds to the previous case while text in bold corresponds to the latter.
March 2019
Not a mega-famous pseudonym on Twitter (recently going from about 4,000 to about 8,000 followers as a result of the Lightning Trust Chain), on March 16 and 17, 2019, hodlonaut tweeted a series of tweets about Wright. On March 29, 2019, Wright responded to hodlonaut with a legal notice. Wright filed the following complaint against Hodlonaut in these public court documents.
April 2019
Wright, along with Calvin Ayre and Ontier legal, posted a $5,000 BSV reward for hodlonaut’s identity. CoinGeek, founded by Ayre, published this article to promote the reward. This potential reward drew both Twitter attention and in-person monitoring, according to hodlonaut. This is where the #weareallhodlonaut movement originated, one social campaign which has seen countless Twitter users change handles and tweet out hashtags in support of hodlonaut.
May 2019
Per hodlonaut, a private investigator located his place of employment, posed as a police officer on the phone to get personal details/contact information and then contacted hodlonaut saying he has documents for hodlonaut to sign. After refusing to sign/provide more information, hodlonaut entered a declaratory judgment (in Norway) that he was not liable to pay damages to Wright (in response to Twitter’s legal noticece).
June 2019
According to hodlonautWright filed a libel suit against hodlonaut in the UK
August 2019
Wright requested that the Norwegian trial be dismissed.
September 2019
Hodlonaut submitted a UK application to dismiss the proceedings for lack of UK jurisdiction in light of the fact that the same proceedings were already pending in Norway.
December 2019
A Norwegian judge rejected Wright’s application to dismiss the Norwegian case brought by hodlonaut.
A hearing was held in the UK on hodlonaut’s application to dismiss the UK case, hodlonaut tweeted.
January 2020
Hodlonaut wins the application to dismiss the UK case and the UK proceedings are dismissed.
According to hodlonautWright appealed the ruling on his petition for dismissal in Norway.
February 2020
Wright applied for leave to appeal the dismissal in the UK, hodlonaut tweeted.
May 2020
A British judge granted Wright’s application to appeal, per hodlonauts Twitter.
June 2020
The Norwegian Court of Appeal rejected Wright’s request to have the Norwegian proceedings dismissed, per hodlonauts Twitter.
July 2020
Hodlonaut tweeted that a court hearing was held in the UK on Wright’s appeal of the dismissal.
August 2020
Wright appealed to the Norwegian Supreme Court to have the Norwegian proceedings dismissed, per hodlonaut.
September 2020
The Supreme Court rejected Wright’s appeal and ensured that the Norwegian case will continue, per hodlonaut.
January 2021
Judges decided to allow Wright’s appeal and UK proceedings to continue on the grounds that these proceedings do not involve the same cause of action (because hodlonaut started the Norwegian case) and hodlonaut reported that he is ordered to pay £168,000.
October 2021
Hodlonaut’s application for a hearing to seek summary judgment in the UK against Wright is granted (to dismiss the case on the grounds of no serious injury), per hodlonaut.
February 2022
A UK hearing is being held on the application for summary judgment on preliminary issues (no serious harm), per hodlonaut.
May 2022
The UK judgment found that there was no serious harm to Wright’s reputation, and the judge dismissed the application. Hodlonaut is ordered to pay £112,000 in adverse costs, per hodlonaut.
September 2022
Hodlonaut and Craig Wright will have their seven days in Norwegian law.
And that brings us to where we are today. A community-led fundraiser to raise support for Hodlonaut’s legal defense has been set up. For more information, visit defendingbtc.com and @defendingBTC.
Beware of scammers – hodlonaut is not ask directly about financing in private messages.
This is a guest post by Elsa Waldorf. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
