MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2021 21:15:47 +0000 References: <0ef71703e1d041cf8cd817555068f820@ontier.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <0ef71703e1d041cf8cd817555068f820@ontier.co.uk> Message-ID: Subject: Re: Tulip Trading Ltd / BTC From: Greg Maxwell To: Paul Ferguson Cc: Oliver.Cain@ontier.co.uk, Michael.Mabbett@ontier.co.uk, seamus.andrew@scaontier.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Paul, As is both well known and trivially discovered, I haven't contributed to bitcoin core (or any other Bitcoin node software, for that matter) at all for at least two years. I have no access to change the software hosted on github or elsewhere or anything analogous. In fact, I am identically positioned in that regard to any member of the public, including yourselves. (Nor do people with the ability to make changes on github have the ability to change the operation of the network in any case, but that it not relevant to my particular situation because I do not have that access.) If you believe you have any reason to think otherwise, you are mistaken, and I welcome the opportunity to correct any such misunderstanding (though I do not see how any could exist). I'd like you to immediately confirm that you understand and acknowledge that I an no longer a Bitcoin developer and have not been since prior to you client's alleged loss. Particularly since I was not included in your 12 June notification and only learned of it in the media, I can only assume that my inclusion here was a purely malicious action in furtherance of the recent campaign of harassment being carried out by your clients and your firm which I complained about on Feb 2nd in an email titled "Immediate cessation of harassment", which you were copied on and to which you have still provided no acknowledgement. Your firm was also informed, at least as of my Aug 10 message to Seamus Andrew, the funds your co-conspirator Wright is claiming to have irresponsibly lost were in fact funds stolen from the MTGox exchange. In that communication I also requested information regarding any police reports only to be rebuffed by Seamus Andrew that you were not at liberty to discuss them. Surely you could not have any good faith expectation of support from me regarding your client's claims while failing to provide complete and detailed supporting documentation. Even if I did have any of the sort of the authority you seem to imagine that I have (I do not), I still would not owe your client(s) any fiduciary duty for a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to: Not only have we never had any communication that would explicitly or implicitly establish such a relationship, it is quite the opposite: both your client and I have communicated to the public in no uncertain terms that we wish to have no dealings with the other and would never place the other in a position of trust. Furthermore, your client has accepted a software license from me which specifies that the Bitcoin software is "WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND" and that "IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE" (emphasis in the original). TTL, Craig Wright, Calvin Ayre, and others are all bound to this license by virtue of their use and distribution of Bitcoin software for which at various points in the past authored and/or have held the copyright to. If they had not accepted this license, their use would be infringing and subject to associated penalties. Moreover, since 2015 I have been an outspoken critic of Wright's fraudulent activities (such as his false claims of involvement with the creation of Bitcoin). In retaliation, Wright has engaged in a sustained campaign of harassment and defamation accusing me of all manner of unethical and criminal activities. I am not sure how any prudent person could adopt an interpretation which supported any sort of fiduciary relationship existing under those conditions at any point much less extending all the way to February 2020 when Wright alleges to have recklessly lost TTL's alleged assets. However, it appears that statements about damages and legal peril in your form letter were included in error, as a subsequent public statement by your clients, which I am relying on in contacting you without the aid of counsel, declares that Wright will not be suing Bitcoin developers, which presumably includes former Bitcoin developers such as myself. ( https://archive.is/CKlkU ) Cheers,