The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, a Jack Dorsey funded fund, announced that it would make its services accessible to 11 Bitcoin developers who were named in a suit filed by Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor. According to the three people behind the fund defending Bitcoin developers will not only relieve pressure on them, but also ensure that the legal system won’t interfere with open-source development.

Dorsey argued in a statement that BLDF, which he founded with Alex Morcos, Martin White and Martin White, should defend the 11 individuals. He stated:

Even those who are not interested in Bitcoin should be concerned about the outcome of these cases, as these lawsuits may have a negative impact on open-source software development in general, and negatively affect our lives. We may not realize this until it is too late.

In their defense , filed at a High Court of the United Kingdom in April 26, the developers described Wright’s claims as ‘a fraud claim’. They also claimed that Wright’s firm Tulip Trading Limited had purposefully initiated legal proceedings knowing it did not have a claim to the 111,000 missing bitcoins.

Litigation against developers having the “Intended effect”

Before defending the 11 developers, BLDF’s founding trio wrote a Letter explaining their motivations for launching the fund. The letter states that the threat of further litigation, as well as the continued litigation itself are having the intended effect. This is evident by the fact that defendants have already capitulated. The BLDF’s goal is to defend developers against lawsuits relating to their activities within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

In a separate press release, Alex Morcos stated that the fund does not only aim to defend ‘the right of open-source software developers to freely create and share their code to the world for greater good. Morcos said that ‘the mission [of BLDF]” is to protect innovation by shielding the developers from legal intimidation.