The Crypto Currier 19th March

The SEC is behaving badly, but it wants more budget. Craig Wright is not Satoshi, which is good news for more than Bitcoin. The SBF Google doc you have to look at. And cocoa's price vs. Bitcoin's. The Crypto Currier is back after a week's holiday ??

?? ?? Craig Wright is not Satoshi. The crypto industry has cause for celebration

In fantastic news, London judge Justice Edward Mellow ruled that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, did not create Bitcoin, and did not write the white paper. This is big news, and maybe the best news the industry has had since Bitcoin’s inception.

“The evidence is overwhelming”, Judge Mellor said. "I will make certain declarations, which I am satisfied are useful and are necessary to do justice between the parties. First, that Dr. Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin white paper. Second, Dr. Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in the period 2008 to 2011. Third, Dr. Wright is not the person who created the Bitcoin System. And, fourth, he is not the author of the initial versions of the Bitcoin software. Any further relief will be dealt with in my written judgment."

Craig Wright has for years claimed he was Satoshi and has sued many who have claimed otherwise. He has pursued multiple lawsuits claiming rights to the Bitcoin whitepaper, the Bitcoin technology, and billions of dollars of Bitcoins. He has also alleged defamation against several who have spoken against him. He also tried to claim ownership over what the industry considers to be open-source intelligence. Had he won, it would have affected the rights of developers and the entire open-source community.

Wright has several ongoing cases, including one against Coinbase, which he alleges violated his rights to the Bitcoin whitepaper. Justice Mellor halted two other cases, including Wright’s case against Coinbase. The court’s findings should affect his chances of succeeding in future cases.

It isn’t clear whether Wright will be able to continue claiming to be Satoshi. Wright’s Counsel claims this is freedom of expression. Due to Wright’s “campaign of litigation" against the crypto community, COPA's solicitor claims Wright’s ability to do so needs to be stopped.

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) was created to protect the open-source network from threats. It now wants injunctions to limit Wright from claiming to be Nakamoto, asserting authorship of the Bitcoin whitepaper, and pursuing any more litigation against the crypto community in the future.

“This decision is a win for developers, for the entire open source community, and for the truth. For over eight years, Dr. Wright and his financial backers have lied about his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto and used that lie to bully and intimidate developers in the bitcoin community. That ends today with the court’s ruling that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto,” a COPA spokesperson emailed to CoinDesk.

US court rules the SEC committed a "gross abuse of power". But the SEC is still asking for more money

A US federal judge has ruled that the SEC has committed a "gross abuse of power". Last year, the SEC sued a crypto project, DEBT Box, alleging fraud. The SEC secured a temporary asset freeze and restraining order against the company. A judge has now ruled that the SEC misled the court both in its application for the restraining order and its ongoing actions.

"Each piece of support the Commission offered in seeking the TRO – and then later reiterated in defending the TRO – proved to be some combination of false, mischaracterized, and misleading," the order said. "Further, the Commission not only repeated and affirmed its misrepresentations in the face of contrary evidence, it presented new falsehoods to the court in an effort to subtly shift from its previous misrepresentations without acknowledging its previous errors.

That is bad.

The SEC now has to pay defendants' and receivers' fees.

While this has been going on, the SEC has requested to increase its budget to $2.594 billion for 2025, up from the $2.436 billion it requested in 2024. The extra $158 million it has requested from the federal budget is to police what it calls the “Wild West of the crypto markets.” Ironic?

In crypto exchanges - sentencing for SBF, Nigeria’s crackdown on Binance and OKX delists Tether

Federal prosecutors have recommended a 40- to 50-year prison sentence for FTX’s SBF. They maintain that a heavy prison sentence is necessary to deter future financial misconduct. They argue that SBF’s continued criminal behaviour, even after the collapse of the exchange and his arrest, shows a disregard for the law. A heavy prison sentence will also bring some degree of justice for his victims. Prosecutors also seek a $11 billion judgement against him, representing the losses resulting from his crimes. SBF’s sentencing hearing is on March 28.

What won’t help SBF is a Google document (100% worth a look at) attached to the US government sentencing memorandum of his self-named “random probably bad ideas” to repair his public image. The ideas include going on Tucker Carlson, coming out as pro-crypto and anti-Binance, giving out an ‘Alameda was incompetent’ message, and leaking a document to the press. The sentencing memorandum claims this document shows a “significant likelihood” that SBF would commit another fraud if released early and is part of the prosecutor’s case for a long sentence.

Crypto exchange OKX has delisted Tether’s controversial stablecoin USDT for EU and EEA users. OKX says this is about focusing on euro-denominated liquidity and that the action won’t impact many users. Realistically, this may be a sign of preparing for regulatory restrictions under MiCA, the EU’s crypto regulations, where stablecoins will be subject to authorisation and some much-needed scrutiny.

Nigeria is cracking down on Binance. A Nigerian court has ordered the exchange to disclose data and information about its customers in Nigeria to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). It says this would help it unravel money laundering and terrorist financing using the exchange. This follows Nigeria’s detention of two Binance executives and the reported demand of $10 billion as retribution for what it claims is Binance’s role in manipulating the local currency and the Naira losing value.

And otherwise - Bitcoin vs. chocolate, bets on Trump, and the industrial metaverse

Cocoa has outperformed bitcoin's 150% gains. Bad harvests and a lack of investment have caused the price of cocoa to shoot up 186% in the last 12 months. The S&P GSCI Cocoa index is up 206% in that time, which means more expensive chocolate.

Speculators have bet nearly $100 million on the outcome of the US presidential election on Polymarket’s crypto-based prediction markets.

And US manufacturing firms are also turning to the industrial metaverse to find solutions for their challenges across the production cycle. A World Economic Forum report found that 92% of US manufacturing executives are exploring ways of implementing the metaverse into their firms.

Disclaimer: The Crypto Currier offers information, not advice or recommendations.? It does not recommend any particular investment or investment strategy and focus on news, use cases and applications of the technologies rather than investment. You should carry out your own independent research including your own independent verification of facts and data. I write the Currier carefully but we can’t guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information we publish and we accept no liability for any act or omission by a reader of our content. Opinions entirely my own and might be totally incorrect.