The case that has been captivating the crypto community for several years now may finally receive a resolution. On May 1, Judge Bloom, who presides over the case, issued a court order for the trial to begin on July 6.
More importantly, the lawyers representing both sides confirmed that they are not planning to file any motions that could delay the trial and are eagerly looking to the opportunity to prove their case in court.
Lawyers representing both sides confirmed to Cointelegraph that they expect the trial to convene on July 6.
The war of words between legal teams
Dr. Wright’s attorney Andres Rivero told Cointelegraph that his client has always wanted to establish truth in court and there will be no delaying motions from their side:
“it’s always possible for the cases to be delayed, they could be motions, more requests by the plaintiffs … But we have opposed all the delays and we’ve always wanted to go to trial. The plaintiffs would have to prove that there was a verbal agreement that 50% of everything that Dr. Wright did for the rest of his life belonged to Mr. Kleiman ”
According to Rivero, Kleiman was a dear friend of Dr. Wright. However, this did not entitle him to half of Wright’s Bitcoins (BTC).
In a statement released to Cointelegraph, Velvel Freedman of Roche Cyrulnik Freedman LLP, the firm represent Ira Kleiman, called those claims “absurd”:
“Any comment that Plaintiffs are responsible for any delays to the trial date is absurd. As Judge Bloom found on January 10, 2020, Craig’s ‘antics and conduct delayed and obstructed the discovery process of this case, wasted valuable time and resources … and prevented the Plaintiff from obtaining evidence.’ Plaintiffs are looking forward to the trial.”
A very unusual case
Rivero pointed out that the judge’s “sanctions against Dr. Wright were reversed, other than the fees”. Rivero does not have an estimate for how long the trial could take as in his opinion, the case has been “very usual”:
“Your guess is as good as mine, because this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this.”
Ira Kleiman, the brother of late Dave Kleiman, lays claim to the half of 1.1 million Bitcoins that Dr. Wright and Dave Kleiman allegedly mined together as part of the Satoshi Nakamoto team.
According to Rivero, his client, Dr. Wright still maintains that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, despite many detractors questioning it. Recently, John McAfee said that with 99% certainty, he knows the true identity of the author of Bitcoin whitepaper, hinting that Dr. Wright could be part of the Satoshi Nakamoto team.
Crypto Exchange Poloniex Announces Delisting for Eight Coins Under New Rules
Crypto exchange Poloniex announced on September 18, 2018, that it had started the process of delisting eight assets from its trading platform. The affected tokens are BTCD (Bitcoin Dark), BTM (Bitmark), EMC2 (Einsteinium), GRC (GridCoin), NEOS (NeosCoin), POT (PotCoin), VRC (VeriCoin), and XBC (Bitcoin Plus). The delisting becomes effective at 12:00 ET on September 25, 2018.
According to a statement published on the Poloniex website, users have a grace period extending up to 12:00 ET on October 25 to close out trades and withdraw balances in the affected digital assets.
In line with Poloniex delisting processes, the announcement states that the platform would ensure that users suffer as little pain or loss as possible, when coins are delisted from trading markets due to a variety of possible reasons.
The process involves a mandatory 7-day advance notice period ahead of the delisting of a market, followed by a 30-day grace period following the delisting, to enable customers to withdraw funds and close out ongoing trades in the delisted assets. The platform also pledges to make us of as many platforms as possible to break the news of the delisting, to ensure that customers are informed and aware of their positions.
The statement also specifies that during an incidence of wallet unavailability, the grace period may be extended, and the platform may contact affected asset holders by email. If a blockchain network becomes inactive, the customer’s funds will be held in cold storage pending the time the network comes back online. Regardless of what the problem is, customer are assured their cases will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
According to Poloniex, once the grace period expires at 12:00 ET on October 25, all withdrawals in the affected assets will be immediately disabled, and the asset will be fully decommissioned from the Poloniex platform, after which it will become impossible for the platform to process any further withdrawals in the delisted coins.
To this end, users with the affected tokens in their exchange wallets on Poloniex are encouraged to withdraw their funds before the withdrawal deadline.
It will be recalled that earlier in the year, Bitcoin Dark experienced a sudden price jump of more than 277 percent in what was a suspected pump-and-dump scheme for the cryptocurrency that has been in existence since 2014. As Poloniex was responsible for an estimated 97 percent of the token’s total trading volume, suspicion arose that the platform was effectively being used to manipulate crypto markets.
The delisting of Bitcoin Dark draws a firm line under the saga and indicates that Poloniex has a decidedly dim view of such activities.
