Bitcoin Audible – Chat_152: Forging Satoshi with Mark Hunter & Arthur Van Pelt
Date: November 28, 2025
Host: Guy Swann
Guests: Mark Hunter (“Dr. Bitcoin”), Arthur Van Pelt
Topic: The astonishing saga of Craig Wright (aka “Faketoshi”), his campaign to claim the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, and the complex thicket of fraud, lawsuits, and personalities orbiting his story.
Episode Overview
This episode is a deep dive into the multi-layered story of Craig Wright, his ongoing and highly public claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto (the creator of Bitcoin), and the massive amount of fraud, forged documents, and court battles that have ensued. Guy Swann is joined by experts Mark Hunter (author of the "Faketoshi" book series) and Arthur Van Pelt, two of the foremost researchers chronicling Wright’s activities. The discussion covers the origins of Wright’s claims, the legal and financial machinations underlying his pursuit, key characters (including the infamous Calvin Ayre), and the continuing fallout from ten years of intrigue.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Background: Why Write “Faketoshi”?
- Mark and Arthur recount how they began obsessively documenting the “Faketoshi” saga, driven by a need to create a complete, credible chronicle of events (09:28).
- Arthur’s spark: Outrage after Craig Wright began suing respected Bitcoiners, notably Hodlonaut. Motivated to serve the Bitcoin community, Arthur compiled all known frauds and lies about Wright into public resources and articles (16:21).
“Nobody has ever put it together and it is needed now to have a source of all that stuff.” — Arthur, 17:04
2. The Tax Fraud Foundation
- Craig Wright’s original fraud wasn’t about Satoshi — it was about tax rebates:
- Wright attempted to defraud the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) by fabricating transactions, business deals, and fake intellectual property surrounding Bitcoin, in order to extract millions in tax rebates (31:47).
- In his early years, Wright claimed only to be an “early miner,” but as his story needed to explain massive Bitcoin holdings, he began to morph the narrative toward being Satoshi (35:49).
- The lies became increasingly grandiose — including forgeries, invented business partners (often conveniently deceased), and claims about payment in Bitcoin to high-profile individuals, such as “Professor Rees” (47:21).
“He was pretending to be an early miner… and he had to ramp that up to a Satoshi position. When you claim to have those millions of bitcoins mined in 2009, the only person who has been mining that much is Satoshi.” — Arthur, 36:04
3. Fraudulent Claims & Forgeries: Signature Failures and Shifting Stories
- The Bitcoin community rapidly debunked Wright’s cryptographic “proofs,” key signings, and technical claims, noting his unfamiliarity with Bitcoin’s basics and Satoshi's communication style (21:04).
- Wright frequently blames others (often dead), for documents he previously claimed as his own, continually shifting the narrative when caught (27:00).
“There’s so many little things that I’m just like, holy God, I did not realize how crazy this piece of it got…” — Guy, 08:32
- The story is a hall of mirrors: endless contradictory timelines, fake contracts, invented collaborators, and claims debunked by blockchain analysis and cross-examination.
“He paints a narrative in one trial, and then he’ll go to another trial, and because some evidence has come out that totally disproves what he said before, he’ll change his story again.” — Mark, 56:24
4. Calvin Ayre: The Enabler
- Calvin Ayre, online gambling billionaire, was pivotal in financially backing Wright’s schemes beginning around 2015, playing a key role in Wright’s “outing” as Satoshi and the spawning of BSV (Bitcoin Satoshi Vision) (60:58).
- It cost Ayre tens (and eventually hundreds) of millions to bankroll the operation; had he simply bought Bitcoin at that time, he'd be a multi-billionaire (68:47).
“Just for that… Calvin Ayre could have just bought $15 million worth of Bitcoin and he’d have $6 billion today.” — Guy, 69:15
- Recent journalism connects Ayre to international money laundering and the Wirecard scandal, which may have helped fund the schemes (70:39).
5. Legal Warfare: Suing for Satoshi
- Wright’s legal attacks on individual Bitcoiners (e.g., Hodlonaut, Peter McCormack) and developers were intended to secure a court declaration that he is Satoshi (61:59).
- With that legal “foundation,” Wright would attempt to claim ownership over Bitcoin's IP and sue entities using or developing it, demanding damages, licenses, or to assert BSV as “the real Bitcoin.”
- These gambits consistently failed as courts (and even the UK legal system’s patience) withstood Wright’s forgeries and lies.
“The whole point was to get a court to rule [he] was Satoshi, which would give him the foundation to file these lawsuits… it’s a shortcut to riches. That’s what he wanted.” — Mark, 62:00
6. Why Isn’t He In Jail?
- Despite forging “possibly a record” number of documents for UK courts, Wright has (thus far) avoided prosecution, largely due to the overwhelming backlog of cases and perceived lack of broader societal threat (110:30).
- Australia is still running a criminal tax case from 2015, but progress is glacial (114:29).
“It is unfathomable that someone can forge things to that extent and can get away with it… he is dropping down the [UK] list on a quarterly basis.” — Mark, 110:13
7. Cult, Collapse, and the Aftermath
- The BSV community clings on, but numbers dwindle and price craters. Endorsers like Ayre have disappeared from public support; some high-level insiders (e.g., Christian Agger Hansen, Steve Shadders) have gone public with damning evidence (85:16).
- Ongoing operations exist, but the core story is effectively over as a legal and social force.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
Exposing the Pattern of Lies
- “He has the stamina to… be in the limelight. He wants to have all the attention of the less literate people who don’t know much about bitcoin. But the moment you start knowing a little bit… you realize this is fakery and he’s not Satoshi.” — Arthur, 22:36
- “It is so incomprehensible… that’s kind of what he bets on — nobody can have a good argument against it because all of this is contradictory.” — Guy, 28:32
The Psychology of a Con Man
- “It’s called the confidence heuristic… You believe someone not for what they’re saying, but how they come across. Politicians, cult leaders, con men — they find people whose confidence heuristic they can exploit.” — Mark, 104:20
The Forgeries and Courts
- “He is almost certainly a record holder for the most forgeries submitted to a UK court case…” — Mark, 78:22
The Breathtaking Scale
- “I have been screaming from the rooftops that this is worthy of a documentary or a good movie… Netflix, go do this!” — Arthur, 76:12
Key Segments & Timestamps
| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-----------|-----------------| | 09:28 | Mark’s origin in documenting the Faketoshi saga | | 16:19 | Arthur’s motivation: outrage at lawsuits vs. Bitcoiners | | 31:26 | The true origin: Craig Wright’s ATO tax fraud | | 35:49 | How Wright’s narrative “organically” shifted to Satoshi | | 41:01 | The centrality of conveniently dead “collaborators” | | 47:03 | The “Professor Rees” invoice scam | | 56:24 | The sheer chaos of Wright’s ever-changing stories | | 60:58 | Why did Wright start suing devs and Bitcoiners? | | 68:47 | The Calvin Ayre “what if” and lost opportunity cost | | 70:39 | Wirecard scandal, money laundering connections | | 76:12 | “This is movie material” – epic scale of the scam | | 78:22 | The world record forgeries | | 85:16 | High-level insiders turning against Wright | | 110:13 | Why aren’t UK/AU courts jailing Wright? | | 114:29 | The Australia criminal tax case |
Messages to the Remaining Believers
“Anyone that is still believing him now is past redemption… Just stop putting more money into this… you’re past saving now, so just save what little money you’ve got left, please.” — Mark, 121:52
“If you can give me dated, genuine evidence before July 2011 that Craig Wright is Satoshi, bring it to me. But I know already it’s never coming.” — Arthur, 123:34
Book & Audiobook Giveaway
- 10 free copies of Faketoshi Volume 1 on Audible are being given away!
- Email faketoshi@bitcoinaudible.com (124:57)
- Window: Nov 28 – Dec 2, 2025
Final Thoughts
This episode is a tour through the wild, at times surreal, history of Craig Wright’s decade-long campaign to rewrite Bitcoin’s history — and enrich himself — through manipulation, litigation, and outright fraud. Mark and Arthur’s work has provided the definitive record, untangling a web so bizarre it’s “worthy of a documentary or a good movie.” Listeners get not only the facts and timeline, but the psychological and social forces at play in one of the strangest stories in financial—and internet—history.
Recommended Actions:
- For deeper understanding, read or listen to “Faketoshi” Volume 1 (and watch for Vol 2–3)
- Stay skeptical. As Mark and Arthur stress, the facts are all there, if you care to look.
- If you have evidence, bring it — but don’t expect it to vindicate Faketoshi.
- Stop putting money into scams, and help educate others about the true history.
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