The saga surrounding self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright may soon come to an end. After years of legal disputes and various court cases, Craig Wright is in danger of losing his last allies. After Christen Ager-Hanssen left nChain Group on Saturday, a leaked email suggests that Calvin Ayre, another once-strong supporter and financier, is also distancing himself from Wright.
Doubts Surrounding Wright’s Satoshi Claims Intensify
Christen Ager-Hanssen, who until Saturday held the position of Group CEO at nChain Global, made waves with his public announcement of departure. His statements not only shed light on the internal dynamics and discord within nChain but also cast significant doubts on Wright’s claims of being the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto.
“I can confirm I have departed from nChain Global [..] I have also reported that I have found compelling evidence that Dr Craig Wright has manipulated documents with the aim to deceive the court that he is Satoshi. I’m today myself convinced that Dr Craig Wright is NOT Satoshi […] The board didn’t take action and my job became clearly untenable. #faketoshi,” Ager-Hanssen wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
This revelation becomes even more crucial in the context of an email that Ager-Hanssen made public, allegedly from Calvin Ayre to Craig Wright. Ayre, who has been a staunch supporter of Wright’s endeavors, seems to voice a deep-rooted skepticism and dissatisfaction with Wright’s ongoing legal disputes and the veracity of his claims. A snippet from Ayre’s email reads:
“Right now the only negative in my life is your litigation disaster. I will accept your explanation that you did not actually threaten me so the following is the situation we find ourselves in. I have been operating under the assumption that you and Ramona have the keys and you were simply pretending not to have them as part of some strategy. But now we are looking at a situation where continuing to deny you ruin your life and damage your supporters.”
Within the Bitcoin community, critics have repeatedly called on Craig Wright to sign a transaction of Satoshi BTC’s in the past to prove that he is the inventor of Bitcoin. Wright has never complied with these requests, even in various courts.
Now, Ayre also seems to have had enough. The COPA court case seems lost, in his opinion, if Wright does not sign the Bitcoin mined by Satoshi Nakamoto. Unless Wright does so, he could lose not only his last major supporter, but possibly one of his biggest funders of the proceedings.
“I am forced to make a tough decision. It no longer matters if you have the keys or not as it is my opinion based on advice from Zafar and others that you cannot win the COPA trial if you do not sign at Harvard so I have no choice in what I have to do,” Ayre wrote.
Relief For The Bitcoin Community
Calvin Ayre further remarks that losing the COPA case will lead to Wright losing all the other cases. “As COPA will set a precedent that you are not Satoshi in law. All IP other than nChain patents will disappear. […] So either you are a moron for intentionally losing this case, or you are a moron for actually not having the keys… either way, I am not following you over the cliff,” he said.
The discourse surrounding the drama has drawn attention from prominent crypto figures. Nic Carter, a crypto journalist, weighed in on the unfolding situation, expressing that the potential rift between Ayre and Wright could signal the end of the Wright-Satoshi saga:
Calvin losing faith in CSW is the only way this thing would ever end. It’s incredibly good news that it appears to be happening now. Without his patron, none of his legal harassment of ordinary Bitcoin devs and advocates can continue. Very, very welcome development.
At press time, BTC traded at $28,149, up 3.6% in the last 24 hours.
Featured image from Investopedia, chart from TradingView.com
