Educational information, not legal or tax advice.
Can people who write open-source code be forced to move or freeze someone's coins?
Tulip Trading v developers (England)
- 2021: Tulip Trading, a company linked to Craig Wright, sued Bitcoin developers, claiming they had duties to help recover 111,000 BTC it said were lost in a hack.
- March 2022: the High Court dismissed the claim at an early stage.
- February 2023: the Court of Appeal found it was arguable and should go to trial. It did not find such duties exist.
- April 2024: after the COPA ruling that Wright is not Satoshi, Tulip discontinued the case.
- 16 July 2024: the High Court certified the claim as "totally without merit" ([2024] EWHC 1809 (Ch)).
The broader issue
Developers of privacy tools that also ran services, such as Samourai Wallet, have faced criminal cases (see privacy law). Publishing code and operating a service are treated differently in many countries.
Bitcoin's answer
No developer can move your coins. Only a valid signature can, and nodes enforce that. A design where no one has that power is the best defence against being forced to use it.