Hodlonaut, a Bitcoin influencer with thousands of followers on Twitter, has already received over $1 million in donations for his upcoming appeal of a libel case initiated by Craig Wright.
Since the campaign began on August 19, 52.679 bitcoin (just over $1.1 million) and an additional $30,000 have been received through the OpenSats donation page. One anonymous donor alone donated 47 bitcoin.
Hodlnaut will be appearing in court in Oslo next month in a separate case against Wright, where he’ll attempt to win the right to settle the libel case in Norway instead of London. A libel case in London can cost millions of pounds in legal fees and a maximum of £300,000 in libel damages.
In comments given to Protos, Hodlonaut said, “Bitcoin represents truth and freedom to me. A censorship-resistant, immutable layer of truth that we can build a better society on top of. Money that can’t be diluted or forcibly taken away from people,” (our emphasis).
SLAPP lawsuits, (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) are instituted in courts with an international reach, mostly by rich clients seeking to silence critics and journalists. Currently, the European Union is in the early stages of introducing a draft bill that would nullify the libel decisions of foreign courts.
The UK is a favored jurisdiction for litigants to initiate SLAPP proceedings because of the high potential value of the damages, but the UK government is also working to abolish this practice altogether.
Hodlonaut currently owes Wright thousands
Hodlonaut’s ongoing libel case in the UK began in June 2019. Hodlonaut claims that he now has up to £280,000 in adverse costs to pay to Wright.
Read more: David Kleiman’s estate appeals Bitcoin verdict, says ‘Wright is wrong’
Wright has already lost a libel case in the UK courts against Peter McCormack after the judge explicitly said that Wright had set up a false case and submitted false evidence.
Craig Wright has made a reputation as a bully and a fraud in the Bitcoin space, with his repeated claims that he’s Satoshi while threatening anyone who contradicts his claims with libel and court cases. He’s also the founder of a crypto token Bitcoin SV that he claims is the real Bitcoin.
Despite his bullying tactics, Wright has not yet initiated court proceedings against Vitalik Buterin who has also repeatedly said that Wright is not Satoshi and is a scammer.
Hodlonaut says he also believes that the subject of Satoshi’s identity is a public matter and that it is in his personal interest to inform people. In court, Hodlonaut is arguing that his tweets were based on truth and public interest and that Wright’s claims of being Satoshi are false.
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Source: https://protos.com/hodlonaut-receives-massive-support-and-1m-ahead-of-craig-wright-court-cases/