Craig Wright Slams Michael Saylor, Accusing Him of Distorting Bitcoin's True Essence

Wright's condemnation comes on the heels of Saylor's announcing that he wants to turn MicroStrategy into a merchant bank for Bitcoin (BTC).

Craig Wright, who claims to be Bitcoin’s creator, has lashed out at Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy, accusing him of distorting the true essence of Bitcoin.

This condemnation comes after Saylor announced that he wants to turn MicroStrategy into a merchant bank for Bitcoin (BTC).

In a blistering critique, posted to X on Oct. 12, Wright said Bitcoin “has been distorted, manipulated, and centralized—now incapable of facilitating simple transactions without the intervention of intermediaries.”

Specifically, Wright directed his ire at Saylor for “building a so-called ‘Bitcoin bank’ to serve as the very obstacle that Bitcoin was designed to eliminate.”

During a recent call with Bernstein analysts, Saylor said that MicroStrategy is “a Bitcoin finance company” and that the goal is to amass $150 billion in Bitcoin holdings. Notably, the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company is the largest corporate Bitcoin holder globally.

“This is not innovation,” said Wright. “This is the betrayal of the principles Bitcoin was built upon.” See the full statement below.

This is a textbook case of misrepresentation and passing off. Michael Saylor stands before the world, falsely proclaiming that BTC is Bitcoin, when the truth is laid bare for anyone who bothers to look. Bitcoin, as designed, is meant for small, casual transactions,… https://t.co/MDAFHr1PwI

Saylor vs. Wright

This criticism from Wright comes at a time when Saylor is positioning MicroStrategy as a major BTC holder and an advocate for Bitcoin as “digital gold.”

However, Wright suggests that Saylor’s strategy distorts the original purpose of Bitcoin. He continues:

“To call BTC ‘Bitcoin’ while simultaneously profiting from the very middleman role that true Bitcoin rejects is the height of deception, and it is through this misrepresentation that Saylor seeks to build his empire.”

This critique reflects a broader, ongoing debate within the cryptocurrency community about the true vision of Bitcoin. While Saylor is seen by many as a key figure in bringing institutional attention to BTC, Wright and others claim that BTC has strayed from Bitcoin’s original goals, particularly regarding scalability and transaction fees.

With this condemnation, the discussions will likely continue to intensify as the rift between different factions of the Bitcoin community — particularly BTC and Bitcoin SV proponents — deepens further.

For the uninitiated, Bitcoin SV is a cryptocurrency that originated from a hard fork of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in November 2018.

Saylor has been a prominent advocate for Bitcoin as a long-term investment, using MicroStrategy to buy billions of dollars’ worth of BTC. He views Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and a store of value, similar to gold.

However, Wright maintains that Bitcoin was not intended to be a store of wealth.

Satoshi claims

It’s worth noting that Wright himself is not without controversy. His claim that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, remains a point of skepticism and contention within the wider cryptocurrency community

A new HBO documentary on Satoshi Nakもと seemed to raise the possibility of Bitcoin developer Peter Todd being the cryptocurrency’s creator.

However, Todd denied that he’s Satoshi on X.com.

I'm not Satoshi.