‘Craig is Satoshi’: a former online gambling mogul’s contentious campaign to change Bitcoin’s future
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Calvin Ayre was arrested in 2012 for operating an illegal online gambling business. He fought the case from his native Canada and his home on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Five years later, the U.S. government dropped the felony charges. Ayr returned to New York this past fall as an evangelist for Bitcoin SV. He organized a three-day conference at the Sheraton Hotel. His crusade includes funding several companies and a media outfit dedicated to Bitcoin. SV is the only digital currency that follows the rules laid out by the white paper that launched Bitcoin in 2008. It's powered by revolutionary technology that has many useful applications.
Calvin Ayre was arraigned in a federal court in Baltimore. He was not in the courtroom, because he was in his lawyer's office in Vancouver, Canada. Ayr is one of the world's most prominent online gambling pioneers. He started in 1990s to build what would become Bodog, one the first big online betting brands. Forbes magazine put Ayrer on the cover of its billionaires issue. In 2012, Rod Rosenstein, then the U.S. attorney in Maryland, brought charges against Ayry. They alleged that he had conducted an illegal gambling business involving online sports betting in U.,S., between 2005 and 2012.
A jury found Wright liable for $100 million in compensatory damages for taking unauthorized control of intellectual property from a company Kleiman founded. The Kleimans are "immensely gratified" by the award. Wright declares victory. Ayre would have been better off financially if he sold his Bitcoin and invested in Bitcoin SV instead. He believes digital tokens have no underlying utility or value and will burn retail investors. He also believes they facilitate crimes. A spokesman for both Ayres and Wright said that as the trial unfolded, Wright was not required to prove he invented Bitcoin because both sides agreed he was Satoshi Nakamoto.
