Craig Wright Files Bitcoin Copyright: What Does It Mean to You?
Breaking news worth discussing as it may impact the whole cryptocurrency space. Here are some hot takes from around the web:
After receiving confirmation from Wright that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the Copyright Office granted the following registrations...
CCN:
...anyone can register a copyright claim. It’s not necessarily proof of ownership or recognition by the US Copyright Office itself.
A news release from May 21 claims that U.S. officials have received confirmation that Wright is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto, but the news has been met with skepticism from some crypto commentators.
The US Copyright Office is the first government agency to recognize Wright as the author of the whitepaper, as well as the main writer behind the code that was published in January 2009.
I personally think that last one is bogus as the government didn't really validate anything (as far as I know), and I heard there's only a $2,500 fine for submitting false information.
It seems the market is responding as one would expect for Wright's Bitcoin SVG coin (which many believe is disingenuous and was recently delisted by many top exchanges, causing all kinds of controversy):
This is a crazy spike:
This is ridiculous. We still have exit scams everywhere and if one person can pump the market like this with the help of the government... well, that's certainly not the permission-less, censorship-resistant, programmable money for the unbanked I signed up for. I get a bit discouraged when I see drama like this. In 2013, I thought things would be different.
Maybe other cryptocurrency projects like Steem, EOS, BitShares, or SmartCash will be better, but I've seen my share of drama within those communities as well. At the end of the day, it comes down to some simple natural law ideas:
The amount of freedom we have is directly proportional to the level of moral cooperation we engage in.
Until we understand this truth and work together for cooperation, we will never increase our freedom, no matter how many cool technologies we invent.
Humans are the problem.
Thankfully, humans are the solution as well.
You are the solution. Start with you and model something worthwhile for your kids. Let's grow up as a species and get past ridiculousness like this. Governments will continue to create systems of regulation and enforce them with threats of violence if we can't level up our consciousness and work to create a better world.
What do you think about Craig Wright's actions? Some argue he's the front-man for the real Satoshi or he obtained access to the Satoshi wallets and has server farms running trying to crack the passwords and all this legal action is to claim legitimate control once he does. Who knows what's real anymore. Could this be the beginning of the end of Bitcoin's dominance in the cryptocurrency space?
Updates:
The increase in buying pressure has likely been caused by those convinced by pro-Bitcoin SV news sources and Twitter accounts that Wright has been successfully granted a copyright for the Bitcoin code and whitepaper, rather than just announcing that he has registered a patent.
As a general rule, when the Copyright Office receives an application for registration, the claimant certifies as to the truth of the statements made in the submitted materials. The Copyright Office does not investigate the truth of any statement made.
I agree with @hilarski... I'm so tired of his attention-seeking games... and I actually thought the market would punish Bitcoin SV, not spike it up like crazy.
I think the problem here is the same problem in business... speculators. Crypto has so much potential, but I hate that the price of a coin is the main focus. It doesn't help anyone really... just like the stock market causes a ton of negative press about specific companies just to move their share price. If that same energy was put into actual investing or building something, we'd all be so much better off.
So well said. I completely agree. That's one of the reasons I don't invest much energy at all in trading. I'd rather be building.
Marketing move. Maybe a law suit move too, though copyright trolling is getting a hard time in the courts. IANAL though I suspect copyright only applies to code, files made from code and papers - generally expressions of ideas but not ideas themselves. For those you need a patent and those can be challenged. I suspect if Wright got serious in a legal sense then EFF might consider joining against him since it could be the status of the FOSS licenses used for most coin's-software that a copyright seeks to claw back rights from. Mr. Wright could avoid the speculation by simply transferring a token amount of BTC for satoshi's stash with a message.
tl;dr meh, stunt. Proof of Keys or gtfo
I filed a copyright form TX if I remember right back in 2001 for my software and Philip Frankel (my copyright lawyer) said that I only needed the first 50 lines of code and the last 50 lines. I told him, software isn't linear anymore.
Anybody can file a copyright claim, but when you do, the government doesn't check for the validity of that claim. They just require a signed oath that you're not filing a false claim (which is punishable). So long as the real Satoshi doesn't contest this claim, Craig Wright is safe.
Obviously, the real Satoshi wants to remain anonymous or is dead.
It's hilarious how badly Craig Wright wants to be the guy behind the blockchain. Its just pathetic! Especially forcing the glory upon yourself after being "silent" and not caring for it for 10 years. This dude has lost his touch with reality... I'll have my popcorn ready once he's going to be humiliated and his BSV coin will plummet to zero. This day is around the corner and its going to be amusing!
Seeing projects go to $0 would be healthy. Unfortunately speculators keep pouring energy into stuff like this so it goes on and on.
Fascinating Luke. Always can count on you for the latest insights into this stuff that is less over my head than when we first corresponded. But I still don't feel qualified to legitimately comment. However there are always a few lines in all of your post that resonate very much with me. This time....
"Humans are the problem.
Thankfully, humans are the solution as well."
Sometimes I just think the aliens should just come down and straighten this whole mess out for us; but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon! lol
Since this stuff really is not my passion, and travel is. My time is now going into planning a trip through South America this summer, with my Ecuadorian (x) girlfriend of two years. Excited to rekindle the love and travel together with her. She's excited to start steeming too!
So this summer it's Ecuador to Buenos Aires (a few weeks in NY visiting family), then a flight to, you guessed it. Bangkok in November!
My gut tells me, Bitcoin makes new highs in 2020 and Steem is back over a dollar too.
Wishing you and your family the very best as always!
-Dan
Fantastic! I'm working to position ourselves for more travel as well. It will happen when the time is right. :) See you in Bangkok!
@lukestokes I really enjoyed this read. Thank you for the brief insights. ”The amount of freedom we have is directly proportional to the level of moral cooperation we engage in” I am sure Craig Wright isn’t Satoshi Nakamoto.
We will see how it plays out but seriously I am tired of his games. Even if he is Satoshi, I really don't care. The cat is out of the bag.
He's never mathematically proven that he was, so he's just a fraudster IMO. He'd had his chance in 2015 to prove who he was. I can't believe anyone would give this fraudster the time of day. Four years later and the industry is still talking about this fraud.
Have you mathematically proved who you are?
I am not claiming to be Satoshi he is.
I have a really hard time believing that Satoshi is a statist, which Craig Wright obviously is. He's stated that he doesn't approve of people using bitcoin to evade the legal system and wants censorable transactions. Most of what he says now goes completely against what Satoshi was saying on bitcointalk.org. So either he had a massive change of heart of he's lying. I think the evidence is prolific enough to suggest the latter.
I tend to agree, but 10% of all the tokens which the market has priced in as being "lost" suddenly hitting the open market could be quite disruptive. Based on his previous actions, he could do a lot of crazy things with those funds. I'm with you though. Tired of the games.
But one SHOULD care, bc a visionary leader is a great asset to quickening the pace of Bitcoin (SV) adoption. No one can market it better bc no one can explain Bitcoin better than Craig.
It's like saying no one should care if Steve Jobs dies or not. Apple is doing great without him, but maybe just maybe Apple would've died along with Steve if Steve died and didn't come back in 1998? Or maybe Apple would be doing better with him still at the controls.
going to try another approach...thank you for your time. :)
In cryptocurrency, you are responsible for securing your private keys. That's not anyone else's responsibility. Have the keys been changed or do you still have access to the account? Have you looked through https://steemd.com/@jadabug to see when things changed? Have you checked to ensure the account wasn't connected to something on Steemconnect that may have been compromised? https://app.steemconnect.com/dashboard
A blockchain is forever, so there is no way to remove content from it. This account, if not controlled by your daughter, is not your daughter, so all you can do is create another account that is her and make it clear which one is real and which isn't from the new account.
Calling the blockchain "a den of thieves" is not an accurate statement. Everyone, again, is responsible for managing their own private keys. If they were compromised, you should figure out how and take steps to avoid that in the future. I've been trying to help people for years understand this stuff with posts and videos like this: https://steemit.com/blockchainfreedom/@lukestokes/understanding-blockchain-freedom-episode-003-safety-and-security
:) going to try another approach...thank you for your time.
When you created your account, it was made very clear that you have to maintain and secure your private keys. Blaming others or the network or steemit, inc is not consistent with how things happen on a blockchain. They didn't steal your daughter's account. The key was somehow compromised and that could have happened with any cryptocurrency. I would like to know exactly how the account was hijacked though. Concerns about bots or the economics of the system (which there is discussion going on about changing) has nothing to do with your account being compromised.
I'm sorry the Steem blockchain didn't live up to your expectations. Do you still have your owner key or master key for your daughter's account? If the attackers only have your posting key, then you can maybe still get access to the account. You change the posting key with either the master password or active key.
Owning cryptocurrency is like owning property. IMO, it should be looked after and protected. Checking in on it is important, especially in the cryptocurrency ecosystem where things are changing constantly. If this was noticed sooner, maybe the account recovery system could have avoided this. Letting the account recovery system go beyond 30 days would introduce systemic risks which might put other accounts at risk and is not a good idea, IMO.
Craig S Wright IS Satoshi.
If you read what he writes, and listen to what he says, he's the only person in all of crypto-crap-world who makes any sense whatsoever, and is certainly the only one who can explain why each piece of the protocol fits into the whole.
If you've been confused by how bitcoin works, read/listen to CSW.
Bitcoin (SV) is the only crypto that has a chance to do any good for anyone. Literally everything else is a speculative pyramidal ponzi scheme-- whether intentional or unintentional (which is worse).
Craig is attacking Bitcoin for his own benefit by claiming ownership. The reason that Bitcoin is so resistant to the corrupt urges of humans is because it is anonymously owned by the people who have copies of the ledger. Any coin that is centralized (Steem is a prime example given that the oligarchy of witnesses can make a living yearly wage and everyone else has to do the work of posting for 0.001 Steem) is subject to corrupting influences.