Today in Crazy Crypto: A Belgian Satoshi wannabe and McAfee is McA-Free

From Florida and the Dominican Republic, the wackier ends of the cryptocurrency world came to the fore this week, as yet another Satoshi Nakamoto threw his hat into the ring and a pungent John McAfee walked out of a Dominican jail after an incarceration few believed was genuine in the first place.

In Florida Federal court on Tuesday, another would-be Bitcoin inventor entered the lists when handwritten testimony from the splendiferously named and luxuriantly maned Jurgen Etienne Guido told a federal judge that he is really the pseudonymous creator of the first cryptocurrency.

Jurgen Etienne Guido’s letter to the Florida courts claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto because, sure, why not?

Guido, who has been colorfully making this claim since at least February 2017 on the @realSatoshiN Twitter account, sent a letter to Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart stating, “Hereby I testify, by written letter, in honor, I am the genuine and only originator/creator of the genesis block of the bitcoin blockchain.”

Guido’s Twitter photo, it must be noted, leads Google’s “related images” to Dave Grohl, “1980s Adult Men’s Hard Rocker Wig,” and Chris Rock in half drag, Two-Face style, among others.

Guido’s letter, entered into the docket on July 22, is the latest twist in nChain billionaire and Bitcoin Satoshi Version (BSV) founder Craig Wright’s trial in Florida Federal Court. Wright is being sued by the estate of Dave Kleiman, a former partner, for half of a cache of 1.1 million bitcoin mined early in the Bitcoin project, and held in the Tulip Trust. Many in the cryptocurrency community have challenged Wright to prove he is Nakamoto by making even a small transfer from this cache.

In emotional testimony that got him threatened with jail for contempt of court after throwing a document while on the stand, Wright told the court on July 1 that he does not have the eight encryption key codes necessary to unlock the trust, and may never be able to obtain them all.

As for Guido, a Belgian, it has been noted on online discussions that his English is not up to the level of fluency Nakamoto has displayed. In his response to a Twitter message from the lawyer for Dave Kleiman’s estate on July 1, turning down a request to prove his identity by signing a message from the Bitcoin Genesis block, Guido wrote: “Why you think the #bitcoin #foundation does has my #pgp key.”

Guido’s letter to the court accused Wright of, “a ‘nigerian[SIC] scam’ or to promote his own business or altcoin bitcoinSV #BSV to mislead the public.” He also denied having any contact with Dave Kleiman.

McAfee busted fleeing the CIA

In the Dominican Republic, cryptocurrency enthusiast, U.S. presidential candidate, alleged murderer, and anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee tweeted that he had been released from jail after four days. He had been held on firearms possession charges according to Dominican media outlet CDN.

He wrote, “Leaving detention (don’t judge my looks – four days of confinement). I was well treated. My superiors were friendly and helpful. In spite of the helpful circumstances, we’ve decided to move on. More later.”

McAfee’s detention had first been reported on Twitter by his campaign manager, the also-splendiferously named Rob Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Loggia-Ramirez.

Noting that he “spoke with John as his boat was being boarded,” Loggia on July 23 said the “situation was tense but controlled.”

But he added, “The bastards wouldn’t even give him a cigarette.”

Loggia claimed that McAfee’s detention could lead to the release of a cache of presumably embarrassing or incriminating data McAfee has collected as an insurance policy. He must periodically check in to prevent the release.