Bitcoin

Self-Proclaimed Bitcoin Creator Craig Wright Declares War on Segwit

Matthew Tompkins | Jun 30, 2017 | 09:00

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Self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright announced that his company nChain will form an non-segwit Bitcoin pool, promising to retain 20% of the Bitcoin network.

Craig Wright: ‘Our Pool Will Reject Segwit’

The announcement was made today at The Future of Bitcoin conference sponsored by Bitcoin Unlimited and Bitmain. The event is being held in Arnhem, the Netherlands, which will run from June 30 to July 1.

The seemingly unhinged Wright made his non-segwit pool announcement during a speech that was peppered with expletives, threats, and egotistical boasts.

“We’re going to scale radically,” proclaimed Wright. “If you don’t want to come along, stiff shit.”

The pool would reject all segwit transactions, something Wright claimed would really “slow down” the network too.

“If you want to be slower, run Segwit,” he said.

nChain says they will build a non-segwit pool. No segwit txn will be allowed pic.twitter.com/Afu6nZdf51

— David Jerry (@digitsu) June 30, 2017

“As a miner, I choose,” continued Wright. “I decide if I don’t want segwit. It’s about time miners figured out their role. Miners choose.”

Claims, Threats & Taxes

When asked if he was Satoshi Nakamoto, he took a philosophical approach (like the Sartre file, released as evidence of him being Nakamoto, since dismissed as sleight of hand).

He appeared to intimate an “I am Spartacus” Marxist collective defense counter to the speech’s capitalistic rhetoric, until he said that “there is no king, there is no glorious leader. I am here to kill off Satoshi.”

Wright also reiterated that he’s ready to take legal action against those who have ridiculed his claim of being the creator of Bitcoin, which he made back in 2016. However, this was met with derision by many prominent figures in the community such as Bitcoin developer Peter Todd.

Meanwhile, lead maintainer of Bitcoin Core Wladimir van der Laan called Wright a “charlatan” because he has failed to prove ownership of Satoshi Nakamoto’s private keys, adding that all of his claims thereafter should be ignored.

Right. Signing something arbitrary with the genesis block output's key would be proof. Without that, any of his claims should be ignored.

— Wladimir (@orionwl) June 30, 2017

What are your opinions on Craig Wright and his speech? Should miners have more say in Bitcoin development? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter