Craig Wright’s appeal application in his case against the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) was rejected by a UK court today, described as a baseless argument with “no prospect of success.”

Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Arnold wrote that the motion was refused “as being totally without merit.”

Wright filed multiple appeals after he was found to undoubtedly not be Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, during legal proceedings against COPA earlier this year. 

As reported by BitMex Research, Craig Wright’s appeal attempted to paint the judge as biased. However, today the court ruled “no credible allegation of either actual basis or apparent bias is made by Dr Wright, but only a series of disagreements with the judge’s reasoning.”

“In fact the judge leant over backwards to ensure that Dr Wright received a fair trial,” the ruling said.

Read more: Craig Wright ordered back to UK for COPA contempt of court hearing

Wright’s reliance on ChatGPT was also noted. It said that instances of his appeal and argument contained, “multiple falsehoods, including reliance upon fictitious authorities […] which appear to be AI-generated hallucinations.”

Craig Wright is scheduled to face a contempt of court hearing on December 18 after COPA countered his £900 billion ($1.14 trillion) claim against Jack Dorsey’s Square and BTC Core. If found guilty, Wright may be arrested and sentenced to up to two years in prison.  

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A new bill introduced in the UK Parliament would classify cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens as personal property under a new legal category. 

The drafted law, The Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill, was introduced to the UK Parliament today. It will legally classify crypto and NFTs as personal property alongside carbon credits. 

If the draft is approved, the UK says it will be “one of the first countries to recognise these assets in law.”

It claimed that the law will “give legal protection to owners and companies against fraud and scams, while helping judges deal with complex cases where digital holdings are disputed or form part of settlements.”

Read more: It took UK regulator ‘25 years’ to assess all crypto applications

When a new bill is introduced to Parliament it must first be debated and approved by both the House of Lords and House of Commons. It must then receive Royal Assent before it becomes law. 

The proposed law will introduce a third category of property. The other two categories already in place are “things in possession,” such as gold, money, cars, and “things in action,” such as debts and shares. 

The UK Law Commission reportedly pushed for this legal crypto classification, arguing that digital assets can be categorized under both of the original two categories and impede court disputes.

Justice Minister Heidi Alexander said, “It is essential that the law keeps pace with evolving technologies and this legislation will mean that the sector can maintain its position as a global leader in cryptoassets and bring clarity to complex property cases.”

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Extradition proceedings targeting a runaway Binance exec who fled Nigeria have reportedly begun with Interpol and Nigeria’s government working together to ensure his return. 

According to Nigerian publisher PUNCH, top government sources revealed on Tuesday that Binance exec Nadeem Anjarwalla’s extradition process has started.

Anjarwalla and fellow Binance exec Tigran Gambaryan were detained in February and were accused of various tax offenses on March 22. However, he fled the country that same day, slipping away while visiting a mosque. 

Two unnamed sources have confirmed that the extradition process is underway, with one source telling PUNCH, “The Federal Government is working with INTERPOL to extradite the fugitive to Nigeria.”

Read more: Former CEO of Binance ordered to hand over passports to US

Another source claimed that Nigeria’s financial law enforcement agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, is working alongside Interpol, the FBI, and the Kenyan and UK governments “to effect the arrest and extradition of Mr Anjarwalla.”

It’s unclear if Anjarwalla has been arrested or detained as part of today’s announcement and there is currently no Interpol arrest warrant issued under Anjarwalla’s name. Protos has reached out to Nigeria’s government and PUNCH for clarity on the matter. 

Interpol clarified to Protos that it is “not involved in the extradition process,” and that the agency doesn’t “comment on specific cases or individuals except in special circumstances or with the approval of the member country concerned.” 

Binance trial to happen with or without fugitive exec

The EFCC will reportedly arraign Gambaryan, Anjarwalla, and Binance Holdings Ltd on five money laundering charges this Thursday. The three are accused of laundering $35 million.

However, Anjarwalla’s legal proceedings at Nigeria’s High Court will reportedly go ahead regardless of his fugitive status, potentially charging him in his absence. 

Both Gambaryan and Anjarwalla sued the EFCC on March 28, accusing the anti-graft agency of violating their “fundamental right to personal liberty.” 

In this suit, the two requested that they be released, their passports returned, a public apology issued, and that they not be detained again. The judge avoided ruling on the matter due to a lack of legal representation from the EFCC and moved the hearing to April 8.  

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A Binance executive detained in Nigeria and accused of tax evasion offenses has fled the country, according to local media.

Nadeem Anjarwalla was detained with fellow Binance exec Tigran Gambaryan late last month shortly after Nigeria banned several crypto exchanges from operating in the country. It was announced today that the pair, along with Binance itself, were officially accused of four tax offenses by Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service.

The charges filed in the Abuja Federal High Court last Friday claim the defendants failed to submit tax returns, were complicit in helping users evade taxes while using the Binance platform, and failed to pay value-added tax (VAT) and company income tax. 

“Binance did not adhere to these requirements, thus violating Nigerian laws and potentially facing investigation and legal action for this infraction,” a statement from the state tax agency said.

Read more: ‘Misquoted’ Nigerian official denies wanting $10B from Binance

According to local media reports, Anjarwalla fled the country last Friday using a Nigerian passport. He apparently escaped the guest house in which the pair were staying after being led to a mosque to pray. 

Authorities are reportedly trying to determine the destination of his flight and where he supposedly acquired the Nigerian passport after his British passport was previously confiscated.

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A recent ruling in the Western District Court of Washington has given the biggest indication yet from a federal judge that crypto traded on secondary markets like Coinbase should be classed as securities under the remit of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The case in question saw former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi, his brother, and their friend Sameer Ramani accused of running a $1.5 million insider trading operation via the platform. Wahi and his brother have previously settled with the SEC, however, Ramani is still on the run.

On Friday, Judge Tana Lin officially ruled that, despite the trades made by the trio happening on Coinbase, they should still be classed as securities and therefore fall well within the jurisdiction of the SEC and its famously anti-crypto chair Gary Gensler.

Needless to say, such a ruling could have huge repercussions, not just for this case but for the entire crypto industry.

“Each issuer continued to make such representation regarding the profitability of their tokens even as the tokens were traded on secondary markets. Thus, under Howey, all of the crypto assets that Ramani purchased and traded were investment contracts,” wrote Judge Lin.

Read more: Gary Gensler hasn’t always believed everything but bitcoin is a security

Lin’s decision to classify crypto traded on secondary markets as securities is totally in step with Gensler, who believes that “everything other than Bitcoin” should be classed as a security. 

Friday’s ruling may also reportedly impact a separate case involving Kraken as Lin’s ruling will be incorporated as case law. In addition, multiple cases involving securities are being heard by appellate courts which means there’s a chance this ongoing debate on crypto securities could reach the Supreme Court.

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An unofficial Fortnite crypto token (FNT) has been pulled from the web and Twitter after Epic Games chief exec Tim Sweeney sicced his lawyers on the unlicensed project. FNT is still trading for BNB on PancakeSwap, as of press time, albeit abysmally.

Sweeney discovered Twitter account @fortnite_token on Monday. It had been promoting non-fungible token (NFT) giveaways using the Fortnite brand for the past six months — without permission. The Epic Games founder replied to numerous posts, calling the project a scam and eventually threatening to sue.

Before shutting down, the Fortnite Token website listed seven different Polygon NFTs and even its own V-bucks token — not officially licensed, of course.

Read more: Fortnite’s Epic Games loves NFTs now that Steam rejected them entirely

The account replied to Sweeney, stating: “This is a fair-launch, community-driven, Fortnite game fans-created cryptocurrency project with no specified owner or company structure behind it or a CEO deciding on its future.” The post is now deleted.

However, Sweeney was quick to reply with some basic facts: “That’s not how trademarks and copyrights work. You can’t use the Fortnite name and images without permission to market an unrelated product.”

As of press time, FNT is still trading on PancakeSwap in exchange for Binance Coin (BNB). However, the token is far from successful — the price is $0.0000002733, down 65% since yesterday. FNT had an all-time high of $0.00002149 in January, according to Nomics.

Fortnite Token not the first trademark snafoo

This isn’t the first knock-off token around. At the height of the Squid Game hype, SQUID token and various others were being shilled all over Facebook, without official licensing from the TV show.

Back in August of 2021, a Lord of the Rings-themed cryptocurrency known as JRR Token was launched with a promise to be the “one coin to rule them all.” However, they didn’t get very far in their crypto quest once the family and estate of JRR Tolkien decided to sue. 

The Tolkien estate claimed copyright infringement and, to no surprise, the World Intellectual Property Organization sided with them, shutting down the site and all its socials. 

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