âWe will continue hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper and wonât be silenced or intimidated. Others hosting the whitepaper should follow our lead in resisting these false allegations.â
So said Bitcoin.org, an independent open-source project that aims to support Bitcoin development, in a response on Thursday to an attempt by nChain Chief Scientist Craig Wright to force the site to take down its copy of the Bitcoin white paper.
While Bitcoin was created by the pseudonymous Satashi Nakamoto, who has yet to be identified, Wright has repeatedly made claims that he is Satoshi and, apparently contrary to the ethos of the founder, is attempting to claim he owns the copyright to Bitcoinâs intellectual property.
Wright, who is a key advocate for the rival cryptocurrency bitcoin sv (for Satoshiâs vision), has now had his lawyers sent out letters to several entities seeking them to remove copies of the white paper from their websites, according to Bitcoin.org.
Wright is said to be claiming the copyright to the white paper, the âBitcoinâ title and ownership of Bitcoin.org.
âWe believe these claims are without merit, and refuseâ to take down the paper, said the organization.
However, the operators of bitcoincore.org, the website for the cryptocurrencyâs developer team Bitcoin Core, did take down their copy of the paper, references to it deleted and the changes merged on GitHub, according to Bitcoin.org.
âBy surrendering in this way, the Bitcoin Core project has lent ammunition to Bitcoinâs enemies, engaged in self-censorship and compromised its integrity,â said the organization.
See also: Bitcoin Coreâs Latest Release Is Out: Hereâs Whatâs in It
The organization said the Bitcoin white paper was included in the original Bitcoin project files and the project was published under the permissive and free MIT license by Satoshi Nakamoto. As such Bitcoin.org said âthere is no doubtâ it has the legal right to host the white paper.
âFurthermore, Satoshi Nakamoto has a known PGP public key, therefore it is cryptographically possible for someone to verify themselves to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Unfortunately, Craig has been unable to do this,â the post adds.