Dr. Wright's lawyer is vowing to appeal, and said: "Anonymous online bullying and harassment risks having a chilling effect on meaningful debate and the civil exchange of views and opinions."
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Reaction to Craig Wright's defeat against Hodlonaut has been coming thick and fast.
Dr. Wright — who has long maintained that he is Bitcoin's inventor Satoshi Nakamoto — famously said back in 2019 that he was prepared to use the courts to challenge the "trolls and haters" who questioned his assertions, ending a post with: "Welcome to law."
In a sign that revenge is perhaps a dish best served cold, Hodlonaut's reaction to his victory during the trial in Norway was short and to the point. He wrote:
"I won. Welcome to law."
However, he later warned that the case is far from over — as separate legal proceedings are still taking place in the U.K.
Peter McCormack, who was sued for libel by the High Court after repeatedly claiming that Dr. Wright was not Satoshi — and ended up having to pay £1 ($1.12) in damages — replied by saying: "You got this."
READ MORE: What the court ruling said
Bitcoiners had rallied around Hodlonaut during the trial in Norway, with the hashtag #WeAreAllHodlonaut spreading on Twitter.
Crypto lawyer Preston Byrne tweeted:
"I am immensely proud of Hodlonaut for winning this case, which (as is publicly known) I was initially involved with in 2019 as one of my first clients on a pro bono basis. Great result by his UK and Norwegian legal teams and the BTC community who helped crowdfund the initial defense."
The president of Bitcoin Magazine, Mike Germano, wrote:
"Years of Craig Wright using the legal system to harass and silence the truth has ended. It took a true Bitcoiner with unbreakable morals to use the legal system to protect the truth for everyone."
What Craig Wright's Camp Are Saying
CoinGeek is a crypto website that's been founded by Calvin Ayre, whose companies have also invested in the firm where Dr. Wright works as chief scientist.
Its coverage of the trial has been heavily skewed in the Australian entrepreneur's favor — and past articles have matter-of-factly described Dr. Wright as Bitcoin's inventor.
CoinGeek carried a statement from Halvor Manshaus, who represented Dr. Wright in Norway. Questioning the judge's ruling that remarks made on social media may not be as defamatory as those made on television news, he vowed to appeal and added:
"Private citizens should enjoy the same protection on Twitter as on other media platforms. Anonymous online bullying and harassment risks having a chilling effect on meaningful debate and the civil exchange of views and opinions."
Kurt Wuckert Jr. — a supporter of Dr. Wright who writes for CoinGeek — tweeted:
"Craig is the product of abuse from people who should have protected him. Whether or not he is Satoshi Nakamoto, his life has been far more tragedy than comedy, and I can't imagine being him, his wife, or his kids right now with a rabble of brutalists laughing about his pain."
He congratulated Hodlonaut on his win — and said that, when he tried to shake his hand, it was rejected.
Ayre was much less conciliatory in his response to the ruling, writing:
"This will not stand… it's a mistake."
