In the latest update to the Roger Ver: A Bitcoin con or a moron? saga, “Bitcoin Jesus” Ver has responded to Dr. Craig Wright’s legal claim for libel with a challenge of his own—a jurisdiction one.
U.K. solicitors Brett Wilson LLP served Wright’s legal representatives with Ver’s application, which sought to challenge the English High Court’s jurisdiction to hear the proceedings, and also to set aside the May 16 order that permitted Wright’s lawyers to serve the Bitcoin.com CEO with the amended claim form via alternative methods like email.
A quick recap: Wright, who has been on a legal pursuit against those who seek to deny his claim as the man behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, filed a libel claim before the U.K.’s Royal Courts or Justice against Ver in response to a video on Bitcoin.com’s YouTube channel in which Ver declared that “Craig Wright is a liar and a fraud. So sue me. Again.”
Wright’s representatives served the legal papers to Ver on May 2 in London, but at the time, he told the representative that he would accept the service of court documents by email to his Bitcoin.com address or to [email protected].
Now, Ver has issued a jurisdiction challenge based on two main points: one is that he is not a resident nor is he domiciled in the United Kingdom, the European Union, or the European Economic Area; and two, that his tweets and videos are largely intended for audience in the United States, where majority of his Twitter and YouTube followers are located.
This, Ver claimed, is the reason why the U.S. is the most appropriate jurisdiction to bring the libel claim against him—even though he’s renounced his U.S. citizenship and is neither domiciled nor a resident in the country. Ver, who renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 after obtaining a Saint Kitts and Nevis passport, currently resides in Japan.
Wright is seeking £100,000 in monetary damages as well as an undertaking restraining Ver and any of his affiliated entities from making further allegations that deny the nChain chief scientist’s claim to being Satoshi Nakamoto. Contrary to Ver’s “again” statement, this is the first time that Wright had taken legal action against the so-called “Bitcoin Jesus.”
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