On Monday, Hodlonaut revealed they had received a single, anonymous contribution of 47 BTC — and speculation is growing that the mystery donor may be Michael Saylor.
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A Bitcoiner has received $1.2 million in donations ahead of a legal showdown with Dr Craig Wright.
Hodlonaut edits Citadel 21 — a magazine about Bitcoin — and is gearing up for an eight-day trial that's due to begin in Norway next month.
Dr. Wright claims that he is Satoshi Nakomoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, but some in the crypto community have questioned his claims.
Both are currently involved in two separate battles, one in the UK and one in Norway, but they center on tweets that were written by Hodlonaut in March 2019.
The case that's about to begin in Oslo was filed by Hodlonaut — and in their words, it aims to achieve this:
"Claiming a declaratory judgment that my tweets were lawful, covered by truth and freedom of speech and that I am not liable to pay damages to Wright."
Hodlonaut claims that Dr. Wright has sought to have these proceedings dismissed — but back in September 2020, Norway's Supreme Court rejected this appeal.
In other developments, Dr. Wright had filed a libel lawsuit in the UK — with Hodlonaut ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs.
Back in June — sharing a timeline about what has happened — the Bitcoiner said they "strongly believed" they would win the case in Norway, adding:
"My resolve to not abandon the truth led to me being bountied and doxed and has now cost a mind boggling $2.4 million and countless hours of my time over the last three years. It's been very stressful."
A Mysterious, Big Donation
On Monday, Hodlonaut revealed they had received a single, anonymous donation of 47 BTC — worth about $1 million at current market rates.
Speculation is rife on Crypto Twitter that Michael Saylor may have been behind this sizable contribution. Around the time it was made, he retweeted their plea for donations, adding the hashtag: "#WeAreAllHodlonaut."
A few weeks ago, Dr. Wright was awarded just $1.18 in damages after a libel trial against What Bitcoin Did podcaster Peter McCormack concluded in London's High Court.
In a series of tweets and in a YouTube recording, McCormack had repeatedly claimed that Dr. Wright was not Satoshi.
A judge has now ruled that some of the evidence submitted by Dr. Wright was "straightforwardly false in almost every material aspect" — and in other cases, his evidence was "vague and unimpressive."
Justice Chamberlain also said he did not find Dr. Wright "to be a witness of truth" — and it was "unconscionable" for the Australian entrepreneur to receive anything more than nominal damages.
At the time of that verdict, Dr. Wright had said:
"I have endured, and for the large part ignored, extreme and offensive online trolling for many years. But there comes a point at which the orchestrated trolling has to be confronted. It has a severe impact on me and my life's work. Where requests to cease and desist are ignored or rebuffed, I have little choice but to seek legal redress."
And indicating that he was determined to challenge those who have said he is not Satoshi Nakamoto, Dr. Wright added:
"I will continue legal challenges until these baseless and harmful attacks designed to belittle my reputation stop. This is not for financial reward, but for the principle and to get others to think twice before seeking to impugn my reputation."
