David Kleiman

Wild Satoshi Theories: The Curious Case of Bitcoin Block 3654 from 2009

21/05/2020 by Idelto Editor

On Wednesday, 50 bitcoin mined on February 9, 2009, was moved from the original address to a new address. The movement of coins caused a great commotion throughout the cryptocurrency community, as some individuals assumed it may have been the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. However, skeptics believe that even though the coins stemmed from an address a touch over a month old from the time Nakamoto bootstrapped the Bitcoin network, it may have been someone else who mined alongside the creator.

The Incredible Fascination With Bitcoin Block 3,654

The creator of Bitcoin and early cryptocurrency mining, has been a topical conversation on Wednesday. The reason is because 50 BTC from February 9, 2009, was moved from the original block reward address to another address. This has made people break out their notes, analyze the blockchain, and become armchair sleuths hot on the trail for whoever the person might be. Various theories have come into play, as people have thought that maybe it was Hal Finney’s wife, one of the Kleimans, Craig Wright, Marti Malmi, someone who may have mined alongside Satoshi Nakamoto, or possibly even the creator.

One of the first issues at hand is how many people were mining bitcoin in 2009. Some people believe a few others had access to Satoshi’s software around that time. There are instances where Satoshi told the public that the software was given to others for peer review. A mailing list response to James A. Donald on Nov. 17, 2008, explains that Satoshi gave files to possibly a few people before the launch on January 3, 2009. A bitcointalk.org member dubbed “Cryddit” told the public he had access to early software. Prior to block 3,654, Satoshi Nakomoto also said he distributed the software to a few other people and thanked two people named “Dustin” and “Nicholas” for their feedback.

Sergio Demián Lerner’s Patoshi Pattern

Coin Metric’s executive, Nic Carter, also discussed the 50 BTC coins from 2009 moving on Wednesday. “Early non-Satoshi mined coins are periodically awakened, just not frequently,” Carter said. “Keep in mind it’s basically impossible to prove that Satoshi ‘didn’t’ mine these coins, but the best research we have suggests that Satoshi mined a specific set of blocks, of which this is not one.” At this point, Carter is discussing the research done by RSK Labs chief scientist Sergio Demián Lerner. “Here’s a visualization of the Patoshi pattern with the block that was just spent. The blocks believed to be Satoshi have a specific pattern in the nonce, which this block does not have,” Carter stressed on Twitter. Other bitcoin advocates came up with the same hypothesis using Sergio Demián Lerner’s “Patoshi” pattern research.

Wild Satoshi Theories: The Curious Case of Bitcoin Block 3654 from 2009 — Chart: Nic Carter, via Twitter

That particular research shows that there is strong evidence to suggest that a single miner or very small group of miners (5 CPUs) could have mined 22,000 blocks. One person asked software developer Jameson Lopp if he “thought the ‘Patoshi Pattern’ is an exhaustive list?”

“IIRC the pattern drops off after block 50,000 or so,” Lopp replied. “That’s all it is, though – a pattern. The list is exhaustive in that it’s what matches the pattern; the real Satoshi might have mined other blocks with another setup,” the developer added. The RSK Labs chief scientist wasn’t the only one who studied early patterns in Bitcoin history as another person in 2017 tried to unravel the clues.

A Single Intel CPU: 1 Miner, 5 Miners, Or 20?

Evidence suggests that back in the early days of bitcoin, around the same time block 3,654 was produced, there was only a small amount of hashpower pushing the chain forward. A blog post from eklitzke.org shows that between the birth of the Bitcoin network in January 2009 and the two months that followed, the hashrate was around 4-8 megahash per second (MH/s). We all know that an old Antminer S9 could blow that hashrate away, but back then Satoshi used a central processing unit.

“I find it reasonable to assume that most of the hashing power in the first year or so of Bitcoin’s existence came from Satoshi Nakamoto,” the blog post details. “If real users were actually joining and leaving Bitcoin, one would expect the hash rate to have varied a lot more, particularly in the first six months.”

The report also shows that the hashrate could have been kept up with a single computer. “The few months have a consistent hash rate of about 5 MH/s [and] would it have been feasible for Satoshi Nakamoto to have solo mined with 5 MH/s in 2009?” the researcher asked. The report’s author continued by adding:

The answer is yes, and in fact, it’s possible to achieve this hash rate using a single Intel CPU. The linked Bitcoin wiki page gives a 5.1 MH/s hash rate for the Core i5-650 CPU, which was released in January 2010 with a 3.2 GHz clock speed. The Intel CPUs available in 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin would have been slightly earlier generation Core 2 processors. Those would have been nearly as fast as a Core i5-650. In fact, the highest-end desktop processors available when Satoshi Nakamoto started mining Bitcoin would have been much faster than that. The wiki page shows that a Core 2 Quad Q6600 (released January 2007) would have been capable of achieving 11 MH/s. The numbers for AMD CPUs in this era are similar.

Malmi Denies Involvement and Links to the Kleiman v. Wright Case

The early Bitcoin developer, Marti Malmi, has explained on Twitter that it probably wasn’t him either, when he was recently mentioned in a Cointelegraph article. “Nope,” Malmi tweeted. “Bitcoin was announced on the cryptography mailing list in January 2009 and many people could have tested it. I found Bitcoin around April.”

Then there was also the Twitter conversation involving Craig Wright, the Australian native who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. “I followed some of the output of that transaction from the old wallet,” explained one sleuth on Twitter. “It led to this wallet, 966 pages back 100 BTC was transferred last fall (it has 4800 transactions in it). Not sure if you can tell anything from this or where that 100 came from.” Craig Wright’s friend Calvin Ayre responded by saying:

I think you will find this to not be Craigs, or at least not Craig doing it…who owns this is for the courts maybe.

“It traces back to block 9. This is definitely Craig’s address as he signed from it in 2015 and in 2017 on the @satoshi handle,” another person replied to the conversation with Ayre. Some speculate that one of the addresses used in the Kleiman v. Wright court case is somehow involved with the 50 BTC movement on Wednesday.

Twitter is now going crazy about the speculation that the coins may have been the very creator’s bitcoins. However, many people are already dismissing the movement by simply referring to onchain blockchain analysis and data. Despite the debunkings, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have always been fascinated with Satoshi Nakamoto’s lore and alleged treasures.

What do you think about the 50 bitcoin from 2009 moving? Let us know in the comments below.

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Bitcoin Lawsuit: Lawyers Accuse Craig Wright of Forgery, Can’t Locate Former Nchain CEO

04/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

The Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit in Florida continues to unravel as the plaintiff’s law firm has accused Craig Wright of forging documents that allegedly stemmed from the mysterious bonded courier. Kleiman’s attorney has scheduled a few more depositions with people like Wright’s wife and London Books author Andrew O’Hagan. Kleiman’s legal team also wants to depose former Nchain CEO Jimmy Nguyen but claim they haven’t been able to summons him.

Also Read: This Is How Much BTC You Need to Enter Bitcoin’s Elite 1% Club

Kleiman’s Lawyer Claims Wright’s List Might Be ‘Another Example of Forgery and Misrepresentation to the Court’

Since Valentine’s Day 2018, the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit in Florida has unfolded. Wright is accused of manipulating the alleged inheritance of the now-deceased David Kleiman’s bitcoin assets and intellectual property. Ostensibly, the two had a multi-year business relationship and acquired 1.1 million BTC, which was allegedly locked into a blind trust. During the last few months, the court has been dealing with Wright’s story that he couldn’t access the funds until a bonded courier delivered the keys to an encrypted file. Then during the first week of February 2020, Wright claimed attorney-client privilege over 11,000 redacted documents and also told the court the bonded courier was an attorney who could not communicate information with the court.

The latest filing from the billion-dollar bitcoin lawsuit shows that the plaintiff’s lawyers still don’t believe Wright’s stories. Based on the documents provided by Wright’s legal team, expert analysis, and the answers provided about the possibility of interrogating the bonded courier, the Kleimans think Wright is providing misrepresented data. “It appears that there are numerous issues that indicate that list may be yet another example of the defendant’s submissions of forgeries and misrepresentations to this court,” explained the law firm Roche, Cyrulnik, and Freedman LLP. Kleiman’s attorneys added:

Plaintiffs are hopeful that third party discovery necessary to confirm these suspicions will not require additional time.

Kleiman’s Legal Team Cannot Locate Former Nchain CEO Jimmy Nguyen

In addition to suspecting that Wright has provided the court with “forgeries and misrepresentations,” Kleiman’s estate wants to depose a number of witnesses. Roche, Cyrulnik, and Freedman have already scheduled some depositions but one person has been allegedly hard to contact. Plaintiffs will depose Wright’s wife Ramona Watts on March 19, novelist Andrew O’Hagan on March 17, and Dustin Trammel on March 26. The journalist Brandon Sullivan’s deposition is currently not scheduled. The Kleimans want to summons Jimmy Nguyen the former CEO of Nchain but the attorneys have had issues locating him.

“Plaintiffs are attempting to serve former Nchain CEO and U.S. citizen Jimmy Nguyen,” the latest court document reads. “But [our efforts] have so far been unsuccessful to locate him. Finally, plaintiffs note that more depositions may be required as additional information is uncovered about the partnership’s bitcoin holdings.”

The court filing from Roche, Cyrulnik, and Freedman also notes that some of the depositions may have to be canceled due to the uncertainty tied to the coronavirus outbreak. “Parties may need to adjust the schedule to accommodate any delays occasioned by the virus,” the filing highlights. The joint discovery report notes that the lawsuit has dragged on in a discovery phase for over 20 months.

“Discovery should be completed in accordance with the court’s order [D.E. 373] and the trial and pre-trial deadlines should remain intact,” Kleiman’s lawyer conceded. “Wright objects to any further extension of discovery based on plaintiffs’ belated filings of letters rogatory, which Wright’s counsel has just received, on non-party Nchain.”

What do you think about Kleiman and Wright’s latest court filings? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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Craig Wright’s ‘Bonded Courier’ Allegedly an Attorney Who Can’t Communicate

04/02/2020 by Idelto Editor

During the first week of February, the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit continues with more tales about the alleged bonded courier. In mid-January, Craig Wright revealed a third party provided him with the necessary information to unlock an encrypted file he could not access previously. Now Wright is claiming attorney-client privilege over 11,000 documents and he also claims the bonded courier is a lawyer who cannot share any information with the court.

Also Read: A List of Self-Proclaimed Bitcoin Inventors and Satoshi Clues Debunked in 2019

Defunct Businesses and Privilege Assertions

New court filings from the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit in Florida have been published and as usual, there’s a slew of new information that thickens the plot. The infamous Craig Wright, who has relentlessly asserted he is Satoshi Nakamoto, is being sued by the family of his former business partner Dave Kleiman. The security expert Kleiman is now deceased, but his brother Ira believes Wright defrauded Dave of billions of dollars worth of bitcoin assets and intellectual property. The Kleiman family thinks Wright tampered and manipulated Dave’s inheritance after his death and the court case has been ongoing since February 2018. The reason the Kleimans may think that Wright and Dave had a partnership together that acquired 1.1 million BTC is due to articles published on December 9, 2015 by Gizmodo and Wired. Moreover, Wright has been telling the public he invented Bitcoin for well over four years.

Additionally, the Wired and Gizmodo articles, as well as documents filed in the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit, shows the ostensible existence of a trust that holds the 1.1 million BTC. Wright has discussed the trust on various occasions in court and said that he was waiting on a bonded courier to unlock an encrypted file he could not access previously. This file allegedly holds all the BTC addresses Wright has owned and because the file was locked he could not share the addresses with the Florida court. The trust known as the “Tulip Trust” expired in January 2020 and the Judge gave Wright until the first week of February to await the “mysterious” bonded courier. Following the order from the Judge, a document filed on January 14 explained that Wright had met with a “third party.” Wright’s legal team stated:

“A third party has provided the necessary information and key slice to unlock the encrypted file, and Dr. Wright has produced a list of his bitcoin holdings, as ordered by the Magistrate Judge, to the plaintiffs today.”

Another document filed on Sunday shows that Wright has asserted privilege over 11,000 documents. “That number continues to grow, with 2,100 documents added just last week,” Kleiman’s legal council detailed. The number of privilege assertions stems from over a dozen firms Wright was formerly involved with or created. Kleiman’s attorney noted that the asserted privilege is not the only thing stopping them from analyzing the documents properly. “The vague descriptions of what is being withheld makes any meaningful analysis on a document by document basis impossible,” the latest court document’s notes assert. “But most troubling is the web of companies defendant has used to shield what will likely end up being tens of thousands of documents.” The Kleiman’s legal team Roche, Cyrulnik & Freedman LLP decided to make a list of all the companies Wright has used for privilege assertions. The lawyers write:

Based on that investigation, plaintiffs [has] determined that all but two companies and Nchain have already ceased to exist; and those two are in the process of being liquidated by an external administrator in Australia.

Mysterious Bonded Courier Is Allegedly a Lawyer Who Cannot Communicate Due to Attorney-Client Privilege

Further, the plaintiffs’ memorandum discloses that Wright claims the “bonded courier is an attorney and his communications are privileged.” Wright’s legal team submitted this information on January 28, 2020, and Kleiman’s legal team said they will challenge this new assertion shortly. In the last court filings, when the third party allegedly appeared in January, the plaintiffs said they deserve answers about the courier and cited that Wright had previously “forged documents, submitted false declarations and perjured himself in open court.”

Roche, Cyrulnik & Freedman had already requested “seven interrogatories about the courier.” The lawyers noted at the time that they want pertinent information in regards to “the bonded courier and his company.” Because of Wright’s recent privilege assertions with numerous companies and the fact that he insists the bonded courier is an attorney who cannot communicate, the plaintiffs’ legal team now “seeks relief.”

What do you think about Kleiman and Wright’s latest court filings? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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Bitcoin Lawsuit Heats Up With More Bonded Courier Tales

16/01/2020 by Idelto Editor

During the last few days, cryptocurrency participants have been discussing the notorious Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit as new developments have revealed a third party provided Craig Wright with the necessary information to unlock an encrypted file he could not access previously. Additionally, another court filing explains that Wright provided the court with a list of his “bitcoin holdings” so he can comply with the court magistrate’s prior orders.

Also read: Scottish Novelist Andrew O’Hagan Asked to Testify in Kleiman v. Wright Lawsuit

Craig Wright Reveals a Third Party Has Provided the Final Key to an Alleged Encrypted File Listing His Bitcoin Addresses

The billion-dollar bitcoin lawsuit between the Kleiman estate and the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright continues to heat up. The Kleiman family is suing Wright for allegedly tampering and manipulating the late Dave Kleiman’s bitcoin assets and intellectual property after his death. Last week, Judge Beth Bloom gave Wright an opportunity to wait for a “mysterious” bonded courier who is supposed to deliver the last key to unlock an encrypted file. According to the story on record, Wright could not produce a list of his early bitcoin addresses because the list was kept in an encrypted file using Shamir’s Secret algorithm. Allegedly there were eight keys total and a bonded courier was to deliver the information regarding the final key in January 2020. Wright was previously ordered to forfeit half of his bitcoin holdings prior to 2013 and 50% of his intellectual property as well. But Judge Bloom realized the order was implemented before the January 2020 courier delivery, so she gave Wright until February 3, 2020, to await the courier.

Bitcoin Lawsuit Heats Up With More Bonded Courier Tales — David Kleiman (left) and Craig Wright.

Now according to a document filed on January 14, Wright’s legal team has told the court that “a third party has provided the necessary information and key slice to unlock the encrypted file, and Dr. Wright has produced a list of his bitcoin holdings, as ordered by the Magistrate Judge, to the plaintiffs today.” Another court filing says that Wright also submitted 16,404 bitcoin addresses that he allegedly owns. The Kleiman estate immediately responded to the compliance submission from Wright and said that the plaintiffs request they be provided with “seven interrogatories about the courier.” The plaintiffs want answers about the bonded courier within 10 business days so they can “seek discovery from the bonded courier and his company.” Moreover, the Kleiman estate plans to have experts review the list of bitcoin holdings Wright submitted on Tuesday.

Kleiman Estate Wants Answers Regarding the Bonded Courier and Company

The plaintiffs believe they deserve answers about this new information because they think Wright “has forged documents, submitted false declarations and perjured himself in open court.” Kleiman’s legal team has also asked to reschedule depositions with London Books novelist Andrew O’Hagan and Wright’s wife. In addition, the plaintiffs want to depose other fact witnesses and obtain new document discovery. They are also seeking to depose Nchain’s chairman Stefan Matthews for information regarding the case. Coingeek owner Calvin Ayre is also mentioned in the plaintiff’s filing on Tuesday.

The Kleimans are seeking more time for additional discovery and have reminded the court that past discovery cut-off dates were that were transgressed upon is “entirely a byproduct of [Wright’s] own misconduct.” The filing stresses that the plaintiffs want this case to go to trial as expeditiously as possible. “Plaintiffs request the Court grant a 90-day extension of the discovery period for Plaintiffs, the pretrial deadlines and the trial of this matter,” explains the Kleimans’ latest court filing. Kleimans’ court document also seems to suggest that the plaintiffs want a trial to proceed in Miami, around June if the court grants them a 90-day extension for more discovery and depositions.

What do you think about Kleiman and Wright’s latest court filings? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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Court Gives Craig Wright More Time to Await the Mysterious Bonded Courier

11/01/2020 by Idelto Editor

Court Gives Craig Wright More Time to Wait for the Mysterious Bonded Courier

10 days after the Tulip Trust expired, new court filings have appeared in the billion-dollar Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit. One document describes the professed existence of a Tulip Trust III, which was shown to the plaintiffs on January 6, 2020. Another filing shows that Judge Beth Bloom has affirmed part of the sanctions against Craig Wright and dropped other sanctions if the bonded courier arrives by February 3, 2020.

Also read: Scottish Novelist Andrew O’Hagan Asked to Testify in Kleiman v. Wright Lawsuit

The Tulip Trust III

The Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit continues this week with some interesting developments and the alleged existence of a third Tulip Trust. The self-proclaimed inventor of the Bitcoin protocol, Craig Wright, is being sued by the family of Dave Kleiman for allegedly manipulating his BTC assets and intellectual property after his death. More recently, the alleged Tulip Trust I, which ostensibly holds 1.1 million BTC, has expired. Wright is waiting on a bonded courier to deliver the final key to a set of eight needed to unlock the trust.

Court Gives Craig Wright More Time to Await the Mysterious Bonded Courier — On January 10, 2020, Judge Beth Bloom decided to give Craig Wright more time in hopes the bonded courier will arrive. Wright has until February 3, 2020, to tell the court whether or not the mysterious character arrived.

On January 9, court filings indicate that the Kleiman estate was shown documents three days prior that describe a document called the “Tulip Trust III.” The motion notes that Wright has marked the Tulip Trust III as “confidential,” which is pursuant to the court’s confidentiality order. The Kleiman estate’s legal counsel has said that the plaintiffs don’t believe the third trust should be sealed entirely. However, the plaintiffs do think Wright should propose his redactions to the court, Kleiman’s attorney Velvel (Devin) Freedman stressed.

Wright Has Until February 3 to Wait for the Arrival of the Mysterious Bonded Courier

Following the discovery of a third trust document, the depositions of Craig Wright, Ramona Watts, and Andrew O’Hagan were postponed by Judge Bloom. The Judge also decided to sustain in part and overrule in part some of the sanctions levied against Wright. Bloom noted that Wright argues that he was sanctioned before he “should have been afforded the opportunity to wait until [the date the bonded courier is set to come] to see if he receives the key slices to generate the list of his bitcoin holdings, which he could then provide to plaintiffs.” Despite the fact that the court questions the plausibility of Wright’s tale, Bloom will give him more time to provide evidence on his behalf. Bloom stated:

The court questions whether it is remotely plausible that the mysterious “bonded courier” is going to arrive, let alone that he will arrive in January 2020 as the defendant now contends. However, given that the Defendant maintains that he should at least be afforded this opportunity, the court will indulge him this much.

Wright contends that the bonded courier is due to arrive at some point in January 2020, the filing underlines. Judge Bloom will permit Wright “through and including February 3, 2020” to let the court know if the courier arrived. “To file a notice with the court indicating whether or not this mysterious figure has appeared from the shadows and whether the defendant now has access to the last key slice needed to unlock the encrypted file,” Bloom’s order highlights. “In the event this occurs, and further if the Defendant produces his list of Bitcoin Holdings as ordered by the Magistrate Judge, then this court will not impose any additional sanctions other than the ones discussed above.”

After the public heard the news about the latest court filings, discussions about the case started to trend on Twitter. Bitcoin SV (BSV) jumped more than 40% on Friday afternoon and BSV supporters seem to believe the tides are turning in Wright’s favor. “More to this story tomorrow,” tweeted billionaire gambling tycoon Calvin Ayre on Friday.

What do you think about Kleiman and Wright’s latest court filings? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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