Bitcoin thought leader Joshua Henslee recently released an informative video giving a rundown of the timeline and events surrounding the infamous 1Feex Bitcoin address, in which he explains what happened and who he thinks is telling the truth.
A timeline of the 1Feex Bitcoin address
Henslee begins with a refresher on the timeline of events surrounding the 1Feex Bitcoin address.
On March 1, 2011, Mark Karpeles told Jed McCaleb that the transactions to the 1Feex address were responsible for a discrepancy in the exchange’s funds. McCaleb questions this at the time, but Karpeles insists without providing any evidence that it is so. Henslee notes that the chat log is a text file, not a data dump from Skype. This supposed chat log was submitted with various other court documents related to the Mt. Gox controversy. Henslee highlights that there are no transactions in the Mt. Gox order books or accounting records to back up Karpeles’ claims.
On February 5, 2020, Bitcoin inventor Dr. Craig Wright claimed his home computer network was hacked and asserted that he is the owner of the 1Feex Bitcoin address. He claims the private keys and other data needed to spend the coins were deleted from his computer network, so he cannot access the coins.
In June 2020, Ontier LLP sent a letter to BTC developers informing them that they must restore the coins. One of the addresses listed in the letter is the 1Feex Bitcoin address.
On February 24, 2021, Danny Brewster, a Mt. Gox user and victim, stated that he and the other victims have a claim to the coins in the 1Feex wallet because they were stolen from Mt. Gox in a hack. He sends a letter to Ontier LLP notifying them of his competing claim.
In June 2002, Dr. Wright published a public notice in the Financial Times again stating that he was the owner of the 1Feex wallet.
BREAKING:
UK-recognized author of the bitcoin white paper, Dr. Craig S. Wright, makes public notice of ownership of stolen bitcoin and related digital assets.
Developing… pic.twitter.com/n42qrWeUcC
— CoinGeek (@RealCoinGeek) July 1, 2022
Joshua Henslee has some difficult questions
After laying out the timeline of events surrounding the 1Feex situation, Henslee asks some tough questions.
First, he asks why the Mt. Gox trustees have not tried to reclaim these coins. Given the amount of money involved, one would think they have some interest in retrieving 80,000 unsplit Bitcoins. He wonders why there was never an official police report or any legitimate investigation regarding the purported My. Gox hack.
Speaking of the hack, Henslee wonders why there’s no evidence that it ever occurred. He again points out that there’s no official evidence that it ever happened, just the word of Mark Karpeles, a convicted criminal, and posts by a questionable security firm (WizSec Security) based on Karpeles’ word.
Henslee also asks why Dr. Wright is the only party involved who can provide context for the transactions. He claims he purchased the coins in February 2011, and the transactions were executed on March 1, 2011. Dr. Wright offers context here, whereas Karpeles either can’t or is unwilling to do so.
Noting the lies, gaslighting, and fraud that permeates the digital currency industry, Henslee reminds us that there’s no evidence whatsoever for the Mt. Gox hack. All we have are the words of someone convicted of manipulating electronic data (Karpeles) and a so-called audit based on his word. On the other hand, we have Dr. Wright, who is willing to walk into a court of law and present actual evidence that he purchased the coins.
Author’s note: This is a recurring theme. Dr. Wright’s enemies will slander him from the sidelines, claiming he is a liar and a fraud, but when faced with him in court, they either fold or run and refuse to meet him there to back up their claims.
Some of the characters involved in the 1Feex saga
Henslee takes a few minutes to paint a brief portrait of some of the characters involved in this drama.
First, we have Mark Karpeles, a convicted criminal who manipulated electronic data records to deceive customers. To Henslee, it’s unclear why anyone would believe this individual.
Next, we have Danny Brewster, who once disappeared with customer funds after one of his businesses failed. Again, we see a lack of integrity or at least questionable character in Brewster, who has provided no actual evidence to back up his claim to the 1Feex coins.
Lastly, we have Dr. Craig Wright. He has no criminal convictions and is willing to enter a court of law and present evidence to support his claims.
Final thoughts on the 1Feex wallet
Henslee wraps the video up by sharing some of his personal thoughts and opinions on the situation.
He points out that neither the Mt. Gox trustees nor Karpeles has ever seriously tried to legally claim the coins in the 1Feex address. He can’t get past this point. To him, the trustees would be fighting tooth and nail to claim those coins if they really believed they were owed to Mt. Gox creditors. He likens them to OJ Simpson and Scott Peterson, two people who claimed they would look for their wives’ killers but never did because they already knew the truth.
Shifting the focus to the coins themselves, Henslee gives some potential reasons why they have never been moved. Either the hackers who broke into Dr. Wright’s network can’t move them because they simply deleted the information, or if the coins really were hacked from Mt. Gox, the hackers can’t move them because the eyes of the entire industry are on the 1Feex wallet. No exchange would accept the coins, and it would be virtually impossible to spend them as blockchain analytics tools could easily track and trace them.
Wrapping up with his thoughts on Dr. Wright’s claims, Henslee says he has some questions about the photo of the paper wallet presented. He’s not sure about it and feels it “looks off.” That said, he believes Dr. Wright is telling the truth about purchasing the coins in March 2011.
Key takeaways—What really happened with Mt. Gox?
Henslee paints a compelling picture in this video; there’s no verifiable evidence that the Mt. Gox hack ever occurred, the trustees, who would be in a position to know, have shown no interest in claiming the coins in the 1Feex address, and the characters claiming that Dr. Wright is lying about purchasing the coins are questionable at best.
Ultimately, this situation will be resolved in a county of law. As Dr. Wright has often said, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the truth can never be hidden for long. Eventually, we’ll all discover the truth about the 1Feex wallet and what really happened at Mt. Gox.
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