The Australian publisher of a book titled “Behind the Mask: Craig Wright and the Battle for Bitcoin” has postponed the release indefinitely, just days before it was due to come on sale. According to one report, the book was canceled due to fears of litigation—but any threats it may have faced don’t appear to have come from Dr. Wright.
Melbourne-based publishing house Affirm Press confirmed to CoinGeek that “We have postponed the publication of this book indefinitely,” but declined to give any further comment about the reason.
The book was due to hit the shelves on January 28.
Reporter Andrew Fenton for Australian blockchain news site Micky claimed Affirm Press had told him “the threat of litigation was too high.” Though they didn’t provide any further details there either, Fenton went on to speculate the move “could simply be a pre-emptive strike as Wright has demonstrated a willingness to sue for libel and defamation.”
CoinGeek reached out to Dr. Craig Wright to see if he threatened a lawsuit over the publishing of the book and were told exclusively: “Not me. I purchased a copy to be delivered on the 28th.”
The entire BSV community was looking forward to the book
However, until today, news surrounding the book was well-received by the BSV community. Commenters were anticipating it would finally tell the truth about Dr. Wright’s involvement in Bitcoin and the Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym in the mainstream media.
Dr. Wright himself had cooperated with the book’s authors, Reuters technology and business journalists Jeremy Wagstaff and Byron Kaye. Entrepreneur and investor Calvin Ayre had tweeted an endorsement of the book and its authors as recently as January 13.
this is coming fast and will cement Craig as Satoshi to main stream business media:https://t.co/55vZgvDDUk
— Calvin Ayre (@CalvinAyre) January 13, 2020
Neither of the “Battle for Bitcoin” authors has posted publicly about the cancellation. The book still appears available for pre-order on several websites. Advance publicity for the title described it as thus:
“Blackmail, police raids, hidden fortunes, death threats and a billion dollar offshore trust. This is the thrilling, stranger-than-fiction story of Craig Wright, the Australian who controversially claims to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto, the elusive inventor of Bitcoin and the underpinning technology that is proving as disruptive as the web was 25 years ago.”
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