A UK Appeal court has finally ruled that the case between Tulip Trading founded by Craig Wright, a computer scientist and self-proclaimed Bitcoin (BTC) founder, and 16 Bitcoin network developers can proceed to full trial after it was initially dismissed for lack of merit.
According to details of the lawsuit, the self-proclaimed creator of BTC claims that Bitcoin network developers owe specific fiduciary duties to owners of digital assets and should be able to help users recover their assets. Craig is trying to compel these developers to rewrite the protocol code so he can reassess his 111,000 BTC which was lost after he lost the encryption keys due to a hack of his computer.
After the case was dismissed in March 2022 when the judge ruled that the Seychelles-based company had no serious issue to be tried, Tulip proceeded to appeal on four grounds which includes that the matter pertaining to a developing area of the law and it was wrong to assume Tulip had no real defense for its claims.
Interestingly, the UK Appeal Court in its Feb 3 ruling agrees with Tulip as it noted that the case could only be decided once all facts are established and to declare the case against the developers inarguable will mean favoring the developers over Tulip. It, therefore, overturned the earlier ruling saying the case was deserving of a trial.
Reactions to Craig Wright’s Court Ruling
While the developers are nervous about the ruling, their lawyers have said should Craig win the case, it would impact the broader blockchain development framework. In addition, the developers could be made to possibly pay some money.
On the other hand, the Australian computer scientist has applauded the ruling of the court adding that it was a step towards a properly governed digital access ecosystem that should be encouraged by all coin holders.
Recall that the self-proclaimed Nakamoto clarified a few misconceptions about digital currency at a global meeting last month. In his words, the digital currency was solely designed to join other solutions that combat crime and corruption. He has been the object of several critics after his claim to be the founder of Bitcoin.
