Coming Soon: Craig Wright The Movie (and Book)

Bitcoin SV benefactor Calvin Ayre has announced he’s funding a documentary centered around the life and times of Craig Wright, the Australian man who claims to have invented Bitcoin.

According to an Aug. 12 tweet from Ayre, the billionaire BSV backer and nChain board member has already given the go ahead to filming and provided an ‘in-production’ still. Ayre said he has hired a documentary film crew from London and they will “dig through everything” regarding Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto.

Reaction to the news was typically divided between BSV supporters like Neil Gallacher who said, “the more exposure on this topic, the better for everyone,” and doubters like Crypto Geek who labeled it a “propaganda piece.”

Ayre also revealed he has hired an investigative reporter to write a book about Wright, after the Australian publisher cancelled Behind The Mask: Craig Wright and the Battle for Bitcoin in January. 

Craig Wright documentary filming. Source: Calvin Ayre 

The mystery of the dropped book

Affirm Press told local media at the time the book had been dropped because “the threat of litigation was too high.” Ayre offered to fund and publish the book himself, but nothing came of it. Asked about the incident this week, Ayre said he was now working with a writer “on our own book”:

“They say it was not a ‘catch and kill’ but they would have to if they were paid to ice the book … I am suspicious, but we have a reputable investigative reporter who will dig into the history and do a book for us.”

The authors of Behind The Mask are yet to release a statement on the matter, however if the book had provided evidence disputing Wright’s claims of inventing Bitcoin, the publisher would have been wise to be cautious.

Wright is particularly litigious — even when he doesn’t have a particularly strong case — and has filed lawsuits against Blockstream CEO Adam Back and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for defamation for doubting his claims, and subsequently dropped both cases. A similar case against Roger Ver was dropped by a U.K. court in May. A case against podcaster Peter McCormack is ongoing. McCormack was recently ordered to pay around $24,000 in costs to Wright. Discovery in the matter begins on September 4.

Satoshi’s Sister: The Movie

Wright is not the only member of his family with ambitions to feature in a crypto-related movie. His sister, Lisa N Edwards (who runs a trading group called Satoshi’s Sister), is developing a feature called CoinRunners based around her life as a Bitcoin trader. A work of fiction featuring such scenes as a Porsche going over a cliff, the movie has been put on hold until “coronavirus is over,” according to a May 4 update by Edwards.

In other movie news, Cointelegraph reported in June that Hollywood would be producing a movie based on the book Bitcoin Billionaires with Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss. A recent release called Money Plane starring Adam Copeland featured a plot about a heist from a ‘bulletproof casino in the sky’ carrying $1 billion in cryptocurrency.