The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 65: Satoshi trial in Florida, Infrastructure awaits Biden signature, and Adrian Grenier joins CoinGeek Backstage

One of the most significant cases in the history of blockchain technology continues—the Satoshi trial resumed this week in Florida with Bitcoin inventor Dr. Craig Wright taking the stand in the Kleiman v Wright court proceedings.

The highly anticipated testimony by Dr. Wright finally began on Monday after being moved from last week’s schedule due to the extended testimony of Ira Kleiman, brother of the late Dave Kleiman. Lawyers for the plaintiff continued to push the allegation that Dr. Wright had a verbal agreement with Dave as the co-creator of Bitcoin. Dr. Wright pushed back heavily against this assertion, and other correspondences that were presented with little context or skepticism. 

To date, the plaintiff has yet to provide any evidence to support their claim. Quite the contrary, there are several pieces of evidence that have been introduced in the trial, which seem to indicate that Dr. Wright was the inventor of Bitcoin. The defense will get to make their case starting next week after an extended holiday break in courtroom action due to Veteran’s Day.

Wright was forced to come out as Satoshi Nakamoto following a malicious and coordinated doxing. Following his decision to reveal himself, Ira Kleiman has alleged that his brother was the co-creator of Bitcoin. At stake is 1.1 million BTC tokens, which is worth over $70 billion as of this writing, as well as intellectual property.

In other news, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns the public against scams using crypto ATMs and QR codes for payments. According to federal authorities, these scams involve fraudulent schemes of impersonation including pretending to be the government, lottery, or even a romance fraud by using these tools—ATMs and QR codes to receive digital currency payment from victims. The FBI shared how citizens can protect themselves such as avoiding anonymous financial transactions online.

Meanwhile in China, police have confiscated $63 million worth of Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Filecoin (FIL) in connection with a Ponzi scheme in the city of Xuzhou. According to Xinhua News Agency, the 31 individuals arrested were affiliated with IPFS Union, a Shanghai-based firm that manufactures Filecoin mining machines. It is unclear whether the firm has been accused of directly being involved in the scheme, the report states.

The controversial Infrastructure Bill, which requires digital currency tax reporting, has now moved to U.S. President Joe Biden’s desk for signature.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the $1 trillion Infrastructure Bill amid digital currencies’ apparent visibility in U.S. politics. Once signed, President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will require brokers to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) trader information on digital transactions over S10,000. Only the Treasury Department will decide who are considered brokers. Lawmakers expect the estimated $28 billion that will be collected from the tax would offset the infrastructure cost. The so-called crypto tax was added last minute in July causing crypto advocates to worry.

A Treasury official recently told media that this is unwarranted as the department won’t target non-brokers including miners and hardware developers even in the absence of an amendment

Biden is reportedly scheduled to sign the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act next week.

This week on CoinGeek Backstage, actor, filmmaker and UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment Adrian Grenier discusses the net benefit of blockchain technology and its potential to foster efficiency of various industries in transforming societies. Adrian also comments about meeting with Bitcoin inventor Dr. Craig Wright.

Watch the full interview on the CoinGeek YouTube channel.

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