A Chinese citizen has recently filed a copyright registration for the Bitcoin whitepaper and original code, authored by Satoshi Nakamoto. The filing comes shortly after Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright controversially filed a copyright registration for them as well.
The Chinese citizen, Wei Liu, is seemingly also claiming to have created Bitcoin whitepaper and original code, under the Satoshi pseudonym. His copyright registration is dated May 24, 2019, while that of Craig Wright is dated April 11, 2019.
As covered, shortly after it was public that Wright filed the copyright registration the cryptocurrency he supports and helped create, Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV), saw its price surge 80% as supporters likely started buying the cryptocurrency.
It currently isn’t clear who Wei Liu is, or why he filed the copyright registration. Some believe it may have been filed to counter Wright’s move and show that anyone can file these claims. The U.S. Copyright Office, reacting to controversy surrounding the entrepreneur’s filing, pointed out it didn’t recognize him as Bitcoin’s creator. The press release read:
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.
The Copyright Office noted that in cases in which work is registered under a pseudonym, it doesn’t investigate whether there’s a “provable connection between the claimant and the pseudonymous author.”
As CoinDesk notes, a press release shared at the time revealed Wright plans to assign the copyright registration to the Bitcoin Association, a “global industry organization for Bitcoin businesses” that supports BSV and owns its client software.
The Australian entrepreneur is notably known for claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, and while some of his supporters claim to have seen proof, critics claim indisputable proof, like moving some of the first mined bitcoins, has never been provided.
Recently, however, scams took advantage of the situation and helped BSV’s price surge 70% by claiming Wright proved to be Satoshi Nakamoto while posing as a Chinese news outlet.
