As previously reported, OKCoin has announced that the company will no longer be managing the domain bitcoin.com, due to a dispute with the domain owner, Roger Ver.
In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Ver discusses the dispute with OKcoin in detail, provides evidence of fraud and issues his own million dollar bounty.
Cointelegraph: First, can you give us a brief overview of the events that have transpired with relation to the management of bitcoin.com and OKcoin?
Roger Ver: The full details can be found by reading the long, but juicy email chain between myself and OKcoin:
All the evidence for the proof of the forgery can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wgmz9ofhq8kymhs/AADOd0QGEL8RvnKoeCKtPBKna?dl=0
CT: Why did you decide to go public?
RV: I didn’t decide to go public. Okcoin went public first with a blog post. I have no idea why they chose to do that since anyone can see with cryptographic certainty that they have presented a forged document with my forged signature on it.
CT: Star Xu said that he welcomes you to hire a forensic investigator to examine the authenticity of the hard copy contract. He said, "I can promise God on my family’s name that I did not forge the contract." He added “I wonder if Mr. Ver and my former colleague would dare make the same oath of honesty.” What’s your take on this statement and the US$20,000 reward on Reddit to disprove your claim?
RV: Even God can’t change the laws of mathematics, and I have mathematically proven beyond all doubt that OKcoin has presented a forged document with my forged signature on it.
I’m not worried in the least about offering that, because anyone who understands how PGP signing works knows 100% for sure that v8 is a forgery from OKcoin. They have been caught red handed by the laws of math.
CT: After three months of delayed payments with unreasonable excuses, why did you not end the contract? Wasn’t there an option to do so with a 30-day notice?
RV: I was exploring other options, but wanted to have something else lined up before canceling. In my ideal world, OKcoin would have done what they promised, and built a useful website for the Bitcoin community. Instead, they stopped following the spirit of the contract as soon as they received all the initial positive press attention for becoming responsible for the domain.
CT: Did Okcoin request to send the money to another entity on your behalf, and do you have evidence of this? (OKcoin has said: “No payment was ever made, attempted, nor intended to a counterparty other than Mr. Ver in the course of OKCoin’s management of bitcoin.com.”)
RV: Yes, here is a screen shot of the email in question. The full email chain can be found at: https://imgur.com/a/DabzS
CT: Under the V7 contract, how much money are you owed by OKcoin right now?
RV: OK coin is past due on about $US20K and owes a minimum of US$550K more for the life of the contract.
CT: Do you have any evidence to back up your claim that OKcoin is insolvent?
RV: I’ve never claimed that OKcoin is insolvent.
I did say that I can’t think of another reason why they would be willing to forge documents in order to get out of a $10K a month obligation. A former employee, Changpeng, has come out and accused OKcoin of still owing him US$40K in wages.
Another person contacted me privately and said that OKcoin stiffed him for US$2,000 of a US$5,000 sponsorship deal. Another person on Reddit accused OKcoin of rigging a contest so they didn’t actually have to pay out the prize money.
CT: How will this dispute be settled? Will this matter go to court?
RV: I don’t know. Ideally, OKcoin will do the right thing and honor their contract.
Another crazy thing is that even if the forged contract from OKcoin were the real one, they are still breaching it. According to the fake contract, they have to give me six months notice to cancel, but in reality, they took the website offline without even notifying me.
CT: In the future, should the blockchain (smart contracts) be used to prevent such disputes from occurring?
RV: I look forward to that day. Even with this situation, PGP signatures have proven beyond all doubt that OKcoin forged my signature onto a fake contract.
*****
Ver also told us that he has requested OKcoin’s lawyer’s contact information “nearly a dozen times now. They refuse to give it,” said Ver. “My lawyer suspects that the person is not a real lawyer.”
Roger Ver has also asked to publish an email between himself and OKcoin CEO, Star Xu:
>> On May 24, 2015, at 11:03 PM, star <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Roger,
>> Our lawyers will speak to you in court.
>> And I don't know if there is any secretly deal between you and changpeng.zhao. I don't trust you because you lie to the public many times.
>> I will keep working on prove the v8 came from changpeng.zhao.
>> Star
>> ------------------ Original ------------------
>> From: "Roger Ver"<[email protected]>;
>> Date: Sun, May 24, 2015 09:58 PM
>> To: "star"<[email protected]>;
>> Cc: "Jack Liu"<[email protected]>; "Alfred"<[email protected]>; "李凤宇"<[email protected]>; "李广鹏"<[email protected]>; "Daniel Kelman"<[email protected]>; "J. Maurice"<[email protected]>; "Jon Southurst"<[email protected]>; "yajun.li"<[email protected]>; "Stan H"<[email protected]>;
>> Subject: Re: Forgery committed by OKcoin
>> Please give us lawyer Yajun’s full details so my lawyer can contact him directly.
>>> On May 24, 2015, at 10:54 PM, star <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Roger,
>>> It is impossible. You tell the public I forge the contract which is absolutely not true and hurt my reputation.
>>> Changpeng zhao give the print version and pdf version to our accountant fengyu.li by QQ. We already have the chat history between changpeng.zhao and feng.li.
>>> I'm not sure if Changpeng zhao really send to v8 to you. He deleted all the email between you and him before he leave the company.
>>> We will ask the judicial bodies to identify the authenticity of the Hard copy. It is printed one time and signed by changpeng.zhao.
>>> Just prepare the apology for me!
>>> Star
>>> ------------------ Original ------------------
>>> From: "Roger Ver"<[email protected]>;
>>> Date: Sun, May 24, 2015 09:26 PM
>>> To: "star"<[email protected]>;
>>> Cc: "Jack Liu"<[email protected]>; "Alfred"<[email protected]>; "李凤宇"<[email protected]>; "李广鹏"<[email protected]>; "Daniel Kelman"<[email protected]>; "J. Maurice"<[email protected]>; "Jon Southurst"<[email protected]>; "yajun.li"<[email protected]>; "Stan H"<[email protected]>;
>>> Subject: Re: Forgery committed by OKcoin
>>> HI Star,
>>> Now that you have had the chance to see the public’s reaction to everything done by OKcoin via your post:
>>> www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/372nux/okcoin_offers_20000_usd_reward_for_disproving_mr/
>>> Do you have any desire to make a reasonable offer to settle this?
>>> I know this is a small thing at your company, but It would seem like a waste for both of us to have to spend more time and money on this.
>>> Either way, I would like the contact information for your lawyer Yajun.
>>> Please give us lawyer Yajun’s full details so my lawyer can contact him directly.
>>> Thank you,
>>> Roger Ver