Craig Wright filed a lawsuit against Coinbase and Kraken on May 3rd, 2022. The lawsuit claims that the two cryptocurrency exchanges are selling fake Bitcoin and the asset that they claim to be the real Bitcoin does not align with what is stated in the whitepaper.

The claim is currently worth hundreds of billions of pounds, and also calls for an injunction against the crypto exchanges. The injunction would restrain the two companies from continuing to pass off digital assets in their current state.

Wright states:

BTC is not in any way related to the system I set out in my Bitcoin Whitepaper which I released in 2008. BTC Core engineers have significantly altered the code to a point where it is not, and cannot be considered Bitcoin. BTC is being passed off as Bitcoin. Consumers need to be protected from this misleading activity that these exchanges/developers are conducting for their own financial benefit.

The lawsuit could potentially disrupt operations of the two exchanges due to Bitcoin's dominance in the digital asset market. BTC represents a significant portion of the daily trading volume that both Coinbase and Kraken receive.

The claim follows up on a 2021 letter Wright sent to a number of cryptocurrency exchanges. The letter claims copyright infringement on the Bitcoin name and whitepaper.

2022 has been a busy year for Wright as he is currently involved in a number of lawsuits. These lawsuits are directed at a range of individuals and companies including Bitcoin developers, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other parties.

Most of these cases are still in litigation, so their outcomes are uncertain. However in February, Wright was ordered to pay the security costs for a lawsuit he has raised against several Bitcoin developers.

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