Disclaimer: The following article serves to inform readers about the most likely factors behind the current Bitcoin SV price rally, and should not be considered any form of financial advice. Come bull or bear markets, Bitstocks maintains our position that the current Bitcoin (Bitcoin SV) price does not really matter. We consider the underlying fundamentals of cryptocurrency assets as far more important.

Over the past week, the top 10 cryptocurrency assets (by market cap) have seen significant price increases. On Social Media and in crypto publications many are calling it Crypto Spring.

And yet, of the crypto winners, none have seen nearly as significant gains as Bitcoin SV, with its 47,1% price gain in the past week, 62,8% for the 2-week period, and a grand 99,3% gain over the last year!

If Bitcoin SV has gone under your radar until now, you might be wondering, What gives?

Good question! And one I am more than happy to put into context for you today.

The Backstory of Bitcoin SV

Since the launch of the Bitcoin SV ticker in November 2018, the project has come under fire for its controversial ethos and founder. Let’s recap:

Bitcoin myths break Bitcoin

Bitcoin SV resets to the Original Protocol

Dr Wright founded the Bitcoin SV project to take over the reins, to return to the original protocol with the long-term goal of developing it to its full potential.

Wright argued that BTC’s vision of Bitcoin was based on false narratives and myths (see: A Short History of Bitcoin Myths). Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin was intended to be transparent and traceable to support law enforcement and honest behaviour. Rather than a speculative asset, Bitcoin provides an infrastructure that enables entrepreneurs the opportunity to improve on existing data communication protocols and invites inventors to come up with groundbreaking business applications.

Attempts to destroy Craig Wright and Bitcoin SV

The criminal allegations Wright launched against some of the key leaders in the Bitcoin Core (BTC) community struck many a raw nerve. To add fuel to the fire, Wright publicly declared he would dedicate his expertise to helping law enforcement track down and prosecute criminal crypto actors. Needless to say, Dr Wright made some dangerous enemies in the process.

As result of the conflict of interests, Wright and members of the Bitcoin SV community have spent all of our existence defending against media campaigns aimed at ruining Wright’s reputation and the project’s credibility. Wright has been crucified for claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto and called a fraud (in every version of the phrase), while Bitcoin SV has been denounced as a scam.

At Bitstocks, we stuck to our guns. The fundamentals of the Bitcoin SV project made it easy to dismiss allegations as a nefarious smear campaign. Our CEO and Founder, Michael Hudson’s research into Wright convinced him beyond a shadow of a doubt: “Dr Craig Wright is Satoshi… There, I said it.”

Kleiman vs Wright lawsuit - Satoshi Nakamoto by proxy

In mid-2019, Wright was issued a lawsuit from the Kleiman Trust. Dave Kleiman, (1967 – 26 April, 2013) was a computer forensics expert, widely acknowledged to have been one of the founding members of Bitcoin. The lawsuit alleges that Dr Craig Wright unlawfully acquired Dave Kleiman’s share of the bitcoin mined in the early years of the Bitcoin network.

If we set aside the matter of legal ownership of the bitcoin in question, the implications of the lawsuit become evident: The Kleiman Trust acknowledges Dr Craig Wright as one of the founding members of Satoshi Nakamoto, and it is staking a long and expensive court battle on the premise.

Late in August, a U.S. District Court hearing wrapped up its hearing of the case and recommended that half of the Bitcoin mined by Dr. Craig Wright before 31 December, 2013 should be awarded to the Kleiman estate, along with half of intellectual property (IP) rights within this period.

The Tulip Trust and 1,1 Million Bitcoin

The district court’s hearing proved highly problematic for Wright. Not only did the magistrate, Judge Reinhart disagree with Wright on the ownership of the bitcoin in question, but he also refused to believe Wright on manual factual points. Most notably, the Judge ordered Wright to produce documents relating to the whereabouts of the bitcoin in dispute.

The Judge ordered Wright to provide a list of public addresses for the bitcoin he mined before 31 December, 2013. Wright explained that the assets had been placed in a technical trust, the Tulip Trust, which was set up to make it unavailable to Wright until January of 2020.

Magistrate Judge Reinhardt dismissed Wright’s claim and found him in contempt of court.

In effect, the Judge ordered Wright to transfer 500,000 BTC over to the Kleiman Trust… a whopping 3,116,513,096,00 Pound sterling at today’s market rate.

Important implications of the Tulip Trust

Both the Kleiman lawsuit and the Judge’s recommendation that Wright transfers the bitcoin funds to the Kleiman Trust imply that Dr Wright is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto.

By implication, Wright’s claims about the intent of the Original Bitcoin Protocol are true, and the Bitcoin SV project’s claim of being the True Version of Bitcoin is valid. The only remaining question was whether Wright’s claims about the existence of the Tulip Trust were true, and then… what he would do with the projected 1.1 million BTC within once he gained access…

Live and Breaking: New Tulip Trust document!

January 2020 has finally arrived and 6 days in, the chips have started falling…

As U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom started reviewing Judge Reinhard’s recommendations in the Kleiman vs Wright case, the first trickle of information sent (positive) shock waves through the Bitcoin SV community.

On 12 January the following (unconfirmed) screenshot from a Slack chat started circulating online:

17 January 2020 Update

On 14 January, Dr Wright's attorneys provided the Kleiman Trust with a list of 16,404 bitcoin public addresses and filed a notice of compliance, stating that:

“Dr. Wright notifies 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 plaintiffs today.”

In response, Kleiman's attorneys, Freedman and Roche filed a motion asking the court for a 90-day extension to review the new evidence and to depose Wright, among others. Judge Bloom granted the request.

Focus on the Fundamentals and #Buidl!

And so, ladies and gentlemen, with another three months to go until the hearing resumes, we'll have to have to wait a bit longer until the fat lady sings (metaphorically speaking, of course!).

In the meantime, don't get so caught up in the hype that you lose focus of #Buidl-ing the Bitcoin SV ecosystem. And, as always, never invest more money than you're willing to lose.