Craig Wright, the Australian entrepreneur who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, escalated that assertion this week after a confrontation with Bitcoin developer Peter Todd. In a series of tweets, Wright a
Craig Wright, the Australian entrepreneur who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, escalated that assertion this week after a confrontation with Bitcoin developer Peter Todd. In a series of tweets, Wright announced he would enter "full billionaire mode" against Todd, railing against Todd's gatekeeping over what constitutes proof of his identity.
"This is it. Screw you Toddler. I am going to undelete my writings. You want competition… screw you. I am going full billionaire mode. You want this. You get it. You asked for this. You will not like what is coming! You think I cannot choose what I prove, to whom…. watch," Wright wrote on June 29, 2018.
The phrase "full billionaire mode" had no clear definition, though it might reference Marshawn Lynch's "Beast Mode," playing out with wealth instead of football. Wright offered no explanation. One Twitter user challenged his billionaire credentials. In response, he posted photographs of his possessions: a house, a Lamborghini, and a yacht.
The yacht image raised questions. Its resolution was lower than his other photos. The image also displayed an Icelandic Hvítbláinn flag. Wright is Australian, not Icelandic. A reverse Google search on the yacht photo returned the same image from Freelancertours.com, a travel website that had posted it months earlier.
Wright has since blocked me on Twitter and taken his personal website offline. His employer, nChain, has not responded to requests for comment. Freelancertours also has not responded to inquiries about the image.
Few question that Wright possesses significant wealth. Yet he flaunts it at every turn. The pattern emerges among other Bitcoin Cash leaders. Roger Ver, a prominent BCH advocate, became angry during a YouTube debate with Bitcoin Error Log over the use of "BCash." He exited the debate, but not before challenging his opponent's finances: "What's your gross revenue [...] less than a million, isn't it, huh?"
Both Wright and Ver present Bitcoin Cash as a payment network accessible to people regardless of their wealth. Yet both men use their personal fortunes as rhetorical ammunition against those who disagree with them. Lahey put it best: "Birds of a shitfeather, shit together."
