Block CEO and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has proposed the creation of a legal defence fund that would help Bitcoin developers deal with mounting litigation. Called the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, it’s services would be free for developers to take advantage of if they choose to do so. Initially, volunteers and part-time lawyers would assist with cases, and the fund’s board would be responsible for determining which cases and defendants to help. Dorsey outlined the basics of the proposal in an email to the Bitcoin-dev mailing list.
In the email, Dorsey said litigation and continued threats to the community are having their intended effect as some individual defendants have chosen to surrender in the absence of legal support.
The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund would essentially serve as a non-profit entity tasked with helping developers minimise legal headaches. Specifically, the fund would assist with finding and retaining defence counsel, developing legal strategies, and paying legal fees. In fact, the fund will also include a team of volunteers and part-time lawyers, readily accessible to developers for legal counsel.
Apart from Dorsey, the email was signed by Chaincode Labs co-founder Alex Morcos and academic Martin White, who both join the former Twitter boss on the fund’s board.
The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund’s first move will be to support 16 developers being sued by Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who claims to be the creator of Bitcoin. Wright won a court battle in December 2021 to keep a cache of 1.1 million Bitcoins, worth about $54 billion (roughly Rs. 3,99,238 crore) at the time.
In the new case, known as the “Tulip Trading” lawsuit, Wright claims the access keys for a Bitcoin wallet were stolen from him last year in the Mt. Gox hack, and he is demanding the developers be forced to give him back control of the wallet — another case with Billions of dollars at stake.
Dorsey, who has become more crypto-focussed since stepping down as Twitter CEO to concentrate on his digital finance company Block, which rebranded from Square. Recently, two NBA stars agreed to have their salary paid in Bitcoin via its Cash App, the latest in Dorsey’s efforts to grow Bitcoin adoption.
Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2022 hub.
For all the latest Technology News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
