Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre and Bitcoin Creator Craig Wright Reportedly Filing Bitcoin Technology Patents
Posted on: March 3, 2017, 04:00h.
Last updated on: March 3, 2017, 02:15h.
Canada’s Bodog founder and entrepreneur, Calvin Ayre, is teaming up with the self-proclaimed creator of bitcoin to file international patents on the digital currency that relies on blockchain technology.
According to news wire Reuters, the online gambling entrepreneur is working with Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who says he’s the man responsible for bitcoin. The duo reportedly plan to file numerous patents in Britain that would provide them with exclusive rights on specific elements of digital currency.
The patents, according to the news outlet, “range from the storage of medical documents to WiFi security.” Wright has filed over 70 patents in the UK to date, though none have yet been approved.
Neither Ayre nor Wright spoke to Reuters for the news outlet’s lengthy special report, but on his Facebook page, the internet gambling businessman took a line out of President Donald Trump’s playbook in denouncing the article.
“Interesting read but it’s amazing what passes for reporting in the age of fake news,” Ayre posted. “I think Reuters has been hacked by relying on fake documents.”
Bit of Confusion
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital monetary unit, meaning no bank or financial institution oversees or regulates its transactions. Instead, blockchains are maintained by peer-to-peer computer programmers who work on a public ledger. The virtual currency is used anonymously, making it an attractive payment method for black market activities.
Ayre has made a fortune off Bodog, his online gambling website that he operates from Antigua. The State of Maryland indicted Ayre on charges of operating an illegal internet gambling company in 2012, but he’s refuted the charges and remains outside the jurisdiction of US federal agents.
Reuters seems to hint that Wright’s holding company, which is also based out of Antigua, is directly related to Ayre.
In documents published by the Australian Tax Office, an agency that is investigating Wright, the computer programmer said in 2014 that he was producing online casino software when he developed the code for bitcoin. One source even says Wright worked directly for Bodog.
Last May, Wright made a public revelation that he was in fact “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the mysterious person who was alleged to have designed bitcoin. But plenty of skeptics remain.
Bitcoin Bubble
Like the US stock market, bitcoin is on a roll. The currency is trading at its all-time highest levels, with each coin going for nearly $1,300. On January 1, it was just $434. The current valuation even puts bitcoin ahead of an ounce of gold ($1,226).
One bitcoin expert predicts the price will reach $11,000 in the next two years.
However, bitcoin remains a highly vulnerable investment asset, as governments and banks around the globe, continue to look at its legality and how it can be used for illicit purposes, such as money laundering.
But Ayre remains bullish, and he isn’t alone. But with so much uncertainty surrounding the cryptocurrency’s potential future, the online address Bitcoin.casino was recently sold for just $28,000 to a Florida-based company.
China is trying to outlaw the use of the digital monetary source until a regulated system can be put in place to monitor the flow of money and restrict assets from moving out from under the government’s control. In the US, bitcoin has been classified as a commodity by federal authorities, and last fall a?district court judge ruled that bitcoin indeed qualifies as real money.
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