Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor Craig Wright torched crypto evangelists Roger Ver, Vitalik Buterin, and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as con artists who are projecting their own criminality onto him.
Wright says the trio — along with developer Greg Maxwell — have defamed him as a fake Satoshi Nakamoto, all while they operate Ponzi schemes and defraud crypto investors.
Wright launched his latest salvo in a scorched-earth July 30 blog post. Basically, Wright contends that those who attack him as a fraud are merely doing so to deflect attention away from their own shady activities.
“I am being painted as a fraud and a criminal by people who opposed me and my ideals. My ideals involve delivering an immutable evidence chain that will record transactions and make fraud difficult. On the other hand, we have people who promote anarchy and crime.”
Craig Wright: Crypto grifters are deflecting
Wright first took aim at bitcoin core developer Greg Maxwell, whom he claims was involved in Operation Anti-Security, or AntiSec.
AntiSec was a series of hack attacks from 2011-2012 that resulted in the theft of mass amounts of intellectual property and thousands of copyrighted documents. Wright claims:
“[Maxwell] broke into computer systems, altered records, and released such stolen information to the world. Yet he calls for me to be imprisoned as he claims I altered records.”
Wright: Roger Ver promotes anarchy and crime
Next, Wright targeted Roger Ver, a polarizing figure who has been dubbed both “Bitcoin Jesus” and “Bitcoin Judas.”
Ver previously backed the original bitcoin, but later became an advocate of its derivative, Bitcoin Cash. Ver and Craig Wright were once allies until the latter backed Bitcoin SV, which itself was created through a fork of Bitcoin Cash.
As CCN reported, Ver has been accused of deliberately misusing the “bitcoin” name on his website Bitcoin.com — a hub that sells bitcoin and bitcoin cash — to con gullible investors into buying the wrong bitcoin.
Craig Wright says Ver is now “seeking to create Dark Web markets” after having been an early promoter of Silk Road, the now-defunct online drug marketplace.
“[Ver] had been imprisoned for selling explosives and for fraudulently signing a declaration saying that they had not been explosives. He is promoting systems that will allow anarchy, drug markets, assassination markets, and crime generally.”
“Yet he calls me a fraud. Why? As I do not support the false assertion that a money that was designed not to be anonymous and that leaves an immutable evidence trail which is admissible in court is supposed to aid Dark Net markets and take down the state.”
Wright: Buterin created ‘the biggest Ponzi scheme’
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was also not spared from the wrath of Craig Wright. In his blog post, Wright claims Buterik created the “biggest Ponzi market and scheme of the decade — with ICOs that have extracted billions of dollars from unwary individuals.”
Wright says Buterin did this by scamming “uninformed and unsophisticated investors” out of their money.
“Vitalik calls it democratizing finance — a term generally used when people seek to dupe the uninformed. He calls BSV a scam as we seek to work within government and regulatory controls.”
Wright: Binance is ‘one of biggest money-laundering operations in the world’
Finally, Wright rebuked Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, by saying CZ is running “one of the biggest money-laundering operations in the public world.”
Moreover, Wright says CZ is using his crypto exchange Binance to “allow individuals to easily launder money using cryptocurrency.”
“[Zhao] calls me a fraud because I seek to add KYC and AML requirements to Bitcoin and other exchanges. Effectively, such people call me a fraud because I’m willing to work within a regulatory framework. The people opposing me seek a system that allows drug markets and crime.”
Wright claims he created bitcoin to operate within the law and not to facilitate criminal activity. Wright has repeatedly torched crypto evangelists who claim bitcoin is decentralized and therefore doesn’t need to play by any rules.
Wright says they’re deluding themselves and need to be slapped awake. He then threatened to make “bitcoin disappear” if its proponents continue to use it for crimes.
“I designed Bitcoin to be a system that worked within the rules. If Bitcoin or any other monetary system seeks to act outside the rules, it becomes an outlaw system, and once it does, it is easy to stop.”
Wright, who’s being sued in a $10 billion bitcoin lawsuit, next appears in Florida federal court on August 7.