Contempt of court application hearing against Craig Wright, day 1. 🧵

Good morning from occasionally sunny London! Today marks the first of a two-day hearing to determine whether Craig Wright is in contempt of court.

I'll be heading to the Royal Courts of Justice, where the main entrance opens at 9am. I expect to meet a ton of friends there, and several of us plan to live-post. Check @BitMEXResearch, @tuftythecat, @Arthur_van_Pelt, @twentynothing00, @WhatTheFinance9. Court 72 may be quite small, but hopefully there is room for all of us.

I think there's a real possibility that Wright doesn't show, and this whole thing will be a short affair. We'll see.

Note that Court 72 has its own YouTube channel. Although I wouldn't expect this hearing to be streamed, it's worth checking: youtube.com/@RoyalCourtsof…

Court is in session at 10:30am, in 2.5 hours from this message. 🕥 There's around ten of us waiting outside the courtroom. No sign of Craig yet. Bird&Bird just arrived with the usual boxes of documents.

Form of order hearing / Consequentials in COPA v Wright, Wright v Coinbase et al, Wright v Bitcoin developers et al. 🧵

Today we hope to see determined what the consequences for Wright will be for the judgment's findings against him.

Court starts in 90 minutes, at 10:30, and the courthouse is open now. Hope to meet many of you in Court 15.

As always, I'm a mere lawpleb and I camouflage my ignorance by tweeting at a high volume. You'll want to also follow @BitMEXResearch and @Twentynothing00.

There will be a live stream in some form – for those of you who had access during the trial, try the same link now, it might work.

LFG The courtroom still hasn't opened, there's a handful of people waiting outside.

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 10. 🧵

We continue cross-examination of Wright's fact witnesses today. Here they are:

* Danielle DeMorgan: Wright's sister.
* Mark Archbold: Compliance manager for a gaming company, met Wright in the late nineties.
* Cerian Jones: A patent attorney who has worked with Wright since 2015 and helped with nChain's early patents.

Jones will be in the courtroom while the other two are on videolink from Australia.

This is my last day in court, so I hope it will be good. We'll be in session in 2.5 hours from now, at 10:30.

https://twitter.com/tuftythecat/status/1758176200344625577

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 8. 🧵

Good morning! It's Wright's final day in the witness box – except for an extra round later due to the new evidence admitted on Day 1. I expect COPA to finish, and hand the proverbial baton over to the Devs, lead by Alexander Gunning KC. If there is time, which I expect there to be, we will switch to cross-examination of Wright's fact witnesses. I don't know who that would be today, so let's see.

When this post is 2.5 hours old, at 10:30, court will be in session. As always, you can tip me for my work at norbert@walletofsatoshi.com or with this QR code. Your generosity has helped cover much of the costs I've had in doing this. Thank you so much!

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 7. 🧵

It's Wright's last full day in the witness box. Tensions got higher yesterday, and I don't see COPA's Jonathan Hough KC relenting today.

Now to sip my morning coffee before I make my way over. 2.5 hours until court is in session. 🕰️ I'm getting several questions about attending, so here is some practical advice:

* It's in the Rolls Building (look it up on Google Maps).
* Just show up, it's open to the public.
* Go through security, which is like a light version or airport security. No need for ID or anything.
* Go to 3rd floor (elevator or steps), find Court 26.
* Try not to enter or leave during session – but if you must, bow to the judge in front of the door.
* No standing room – if you can't find a seat, leave and try again during the next break (especially during lunch break around 13:00).
* Put your equipment on mute, be as quiet as possible. Absolutely no laughing out loud unless an intentional joke was told (this is the hard part).

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 6. 🧵

Well I've had a lovely weekend, and I'm ready for my second, and unfortunately last, week in court. Today, COPA's Jonathan Hough KC will continue his cross-examination of Wright. Wright will remain in the witness box likely into Wednesday, while the remainder of the week will be cross-examination of his fact witnesses.

We're moving to Court 26 today, on the third floor, said to be a whole four degrees cooler than Court 30. PM me if you have any practical questions around attending.

As always, court starts at 10:30, or in 2.5 hours from now. If you'd like to tip me a little for my work, you can use norbert@walletofsatoshi.com or this QR code.

I truly appreciate your generosity and it has gone a long way towards covering the expenses for my work.

(Corrected from earlier post)

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 5. 🧵

Are you all ready for the last court day of the week? We'll see more cross-examination by COPA's talented Jonathan Hough today. I feel like it's not going to get any easier for Wright.

If you're watching the stream and see me get anything wrong, please correct me in replies. I'm having frequent "surely he couldn't have said THAT??" moments, and need to make snap decisions on posting what I think I heard, which is difficult when Wright actually says absurd and self-contradictory stuff.

I'm thankful it's the last day in Court 30 with its broken air conditioning. I heard the court we're moving to on Monday is just as big and actually has air that is fit to breathe.

We'll be in session in 2.5 hours from now, at 10:30. If you'd like to tip me a little for my work, and cover some of my expenses, you're welcome to throw a few sats at norbert@walletofsatoshi.com, or this QR code. Highly appreciated!

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 4.

Welcome to the third day of cross-examination in rainy London. Expecting more of the same, so it should be good.

Court will be in session in two hours and 30 minutes from now (10:30). Several of you have asked me how to watch the stream. You can find instructions here: It involves registering with your full legal name, and they will give you personal credentials which I think will only work from the following court day. Please follow strictly the rules: no recording of the stream, no screenshots, no audio recording – doing this is contempt of court.judiciary.uk/judgments/cryp…

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 3. 🧵

It's the second day of Wright's cross-examination. I'm enjoying my morning coffee before heading out to queue outside the courthouse. Looking forward to another day of Wright not getting away with absurd obfuscation.

Some notes on my reporting: When I put someone's quote "inside quotation marks", it's an exact reproduction of what was said. Without quotation marks, it's best effort, but I may use different words or abbreviated phrasing just to finish typing in time. Like yesterday, quotes attributed to "C" is from COPA's counsel, while "W" is from Wright. I assume the devs' counsel will cross-examine Wright at some point, and I'll call them "D".

(Yep, I learnt to spell "counsel" 💪) Queuing outside every morning and having friendly discussions with people on both sides is becoming a nice morning routine.

We're seated now. Happy to be accompanied by my friend @hodlonaut here today.

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 2. 🧵

Today is the first day of Wright's cross-examination, which amazingly will go on until next Tuesday. I expect there to be particular interest today, so I'll be lucky to get a seat, but I'll do my best – which involves standing in line in scorching heat for an hour outside the courtroom. 🫠

See you there! Forgot to say – make sure to follow other reporters:
@tuftythecat
@BitMEXResearch
@AaronvanW
@369bsv (for an opposing perspective)

https://twitter.com/Arthur_van_Pelt/status/1754781331190366288

COPA v Wright, the identity issue – Day 1 🧵

Today is for "oral openings", which I'm told is not a dental procedure. Both sides will make their case, and no surprises are expected. I look forward to taking in the tense atmosphere that often surrounds opening days of major trials – but the real drama doesn't start until tomorrow.

Court is in session from 10:30 (2.5 hours from now).

I'll make my way to the courthouse early to try to secure a seat. I hope the case doesn't fall apart before I get there. Calvin remains belligerent until the end. But he would not take Ager-Hanssen's bet, and he will not show in London.

I went to Oslo to attend the Hodlonaut v Wright trial as a member of the audience, and ended up live-tweeting it. This exposed me to the bitcoin community in a new and humbling way. Here is my story.

https://twitter.com/bitnorbert/status/1572654114491842561

Like most bitcoiners, I recognised Craig Wright as a faketoshi shortly after he went public in 2016. He's a 🤡, but his lawsuits against bitcoiners afflict terrible burdens. Part of his scheme is to attempt actual damage on Bitcoin, and he's well-funded.

Reflections on day 7. #WeAreAllHodlonaut

It's been a long trial, and I think we were all a bit tired of the whole thing. So today felt long, much thanks to the grueling repetitiveness of Wright's lawyers. We did get a flying start from Hodlonaut's side this morning. Haukaas and Myklebust were at their top game today, citing law and picking the opposition's citations apart.

Day 7 🧵 #WeAreAllHodlonaut

GM Oslo 🌅 It's the last day of the trial, and court will be in session in 90 minutes. We'll hear the remainder of Hodlonaut's closing arguments in the first session (85 minutes), and the rest of the day will be Wright's closing arguments. And then we all go home.

Reflections on day 6. #WeAreAllHodlonaut

What a day, it flew by. And by the end of it, I think we all shared a distinctive optimism. We expected a good day, but it was in fact a great day. BDO and Cyfor witnessed for Hodlonaut. Well no, formally they were Wright's witnesses, but incredibly they shared KPMG's findings and even praised their report. Their remarks centered around methodology, and came off rather lightweight.

Day 6 🧵 #WeAreAllHodlonaut

It's been a nice and sunny weekend here in Oslo, spent seeing the sights and hanging out with awesome bitcoiners. Ready for the final two days of the trial! Court session starts in 90 minutes. We're scheduled to start off with BDO's witness statement. They were hired by Wright's side to pick holes in the KPMG report. So far we've instead heard that they frequently agreed with KPMG's conclusions. Will be interesting to learn more about their findings.

Reflections on day 5. #WeAreAllHodlonaut

Wright's witnesses today were yet more hearsay and praise and vague recollections with no retained evidence. A boring waste of the court's time. It's hard to have a qualified opinion on Klin's diagnosis, but it having been handed out after three hours of personal interaction must be quite a bit too simple. Interesting that so much time was spent on assuring the court that he's really not a malignant narcissist.

Day 5 🧵

It's KPMG day, rise and shine! In 90 minutes, court will be back in session. #WeAreAllHodlonaut We'll hear from four more of Wright's witnesses (yes, he brought like 10 of them in total, #WitnessesAreProof). There is Bridges, Sinclair, Yousuf (don't have their full names – do you?) and Max Lynam. This will take the first half of the day.

Reflections on day 4. #WeAreAllHodlonaut

Today's witnesses attracted a larger audience on both sides. I enjoyed seeing and meeting more bitcoiners, and still encourage more to show up! The videos from Hodlonaut's side were old news to many, but they are a good selection of crazy and now the judge has seen them.

Day 4 🧵

Good morning! Join for me for another fun day at the courthouse? We have 90 minutes to get there before court's back in session. #WeAreAllHodlonaut Witness statements start today. We'll hear from Hodlonaut's witnesses for the first three sessions. Looking forward to this as they are all talented people.

Reflections on day 3. #WeAreAllHodlonaut

I'm exhausted after each court day, but today I'm something else as well: energised! I have to interpret this physical reaction as a growing optimism on Hodlonaut's behalf. Hodlonaut came out really well in cross-interrogation. He maintained a calm demeanour, spoke clearly and articulately, kept a respectful tone. Wright's side had surprisingly weak arguments against him, nothing that made much of an impression.