Bitcoin SV (BSV), a fork of the original king of crypto, is on a tear.
The cryptocurrency is now trading for around $172 per coin, an increase of more than 6 percent over the last 24 hours. Less than two weeks ago, Bitcoin SV—the coin backed by the self-professed inventor of Bitcoin, Craig Wright—was trading for just over $93 per coin.
All in all, that’s a jump of nearly 85 percent.
BSV is now trading at a six-month high, at prices that the coin hasn’t seen since last July. Conventional wisdom places the price jump as the result of the latest developments surrounding the multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against Craig Wright, which was initiated by the estate of his former business associate Dave Kleiman over a year ago.
The price pump followed news that Wright had submitted documentation to Kleiman’s estate that involved a supposed Bitcoin stash worth billions. A court had previously ruled that Wright must turn over 50 percent of his Bitcoin wealth to Kleiman’s estate. Now the court is giving Wright until early February to obtain the keys to his alleged bitcoin fortune from a mysterious “bonded courier.”
Should Wright fail to obtain the keys, court documents suggest “additional sanctions would be warranted.” While all that might sound like bad news for Wright, this minor court victory in being granted more time appears to be behind BSV’s big boost.
But not everyone’s buying it. Sid Shekhar—co-founder of research platform TokenAnalyst—told Bloomberg the price surge is more likely a “coordinated pump” rather than a reaction to news surrounding the ongoing suit.
Either way, for now, BSV holders are reaping the rewards.