Steve Wozniak: The Founding Legend of Apple Donates His Fortune and Continues His Fight Against Cryptocurrency Scams

Steve Wozniak: The mastermind behind the founding of Apple, surprised the world with his decision to donate his entire fortune from the company, asserting that wealth and power are not the focus of his life. This decisive announcement came as a comment on a discussion about his "bad decision" to sell his shares in Apple during the 1980s, which could have made him trillions of dollars today.

Wozniak: Known for his innovative design of the Apple II, was a pioneering figure in the early days of personal computing. After leaving Apple in the mid-1980s, he co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation and supported the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. He has spent the past four decades in philanthropy, public speaking, and establishing a variety of tech companies, including one focused on reducing orbital debris.

What highlights his stature: As one of the great figures in the history of technology, is that despite decades of work in the tech sector and accumulating immense wealth, he largely maintained his calm and simplicity.

The Legal Battle Against YouTube: Protecting Users from Cryptocurrency Scams

Recently: As he celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday, Wozniak appeared in the comments section of Slashdot, where there was a discussion about his ongoing lawsuit against YouTube. The lawsuit addresses scammers exploiting his image in scams aimed at stealing cryptocurrencies. One commenter pointed to Wozniak's sale of his Apple shares in the 1980s, which could have been worth trillions of dollars today, remarking: "Smart man. Great engineer. Bad decision. Happens to us all."

Wozniak's response: was decisive and meaningful: "I donated all my Apple wealth because wealth and power are not what I live for." He added: "I have a lot of fun and happiness. I have funded many important museums and art collections in San Jose, my hometown, and they named a street after me in honor of my good work. I now speak publicly and have reached the top. I have no idea how much wealth I have now, but after speaking for 20 years, it might be around $10 million plus two houses. I never sought any kind of tax evasion. I earn money from my work and pay about 55% combined taxes on it. I am the happiest person ever. Life for me has never been about achievement, but about happiness, which is smiles minus frowns. I developed these philosophies when I was 18-20 years old and never gave them up."

The lawsuit details: filed by Steve Wozniak and 17 other plaintiffs against YouTube and Google, the use of his image and videos by scammers to promote fake "Bitcoin giveaway" scams. These operations involve hacking popular YouTube channels, impersonating tech celebrities, and hosting fake live stream events that promise to double any cryptocurrency sent to a specific account. Victims have suffered significant losses; for example, Jennifer Marion lost $59,000 in one such scam (CBS News, 2025-08-10) .

Wozniak and the other plaintiffs allege: that YouTube was aware of these fraudulent practices, even hosted and promoted them, and profited from them for years, also failing to promptly remove fraudulent videos despite repeated reports. Initially, YouTube based its defense on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which grants interactive computer service providers general immunity from liability for content published by third parties (Justia, 2024-04-02) .

However: a California appellate court partially overturned a previous lower court ruling (dated March 15, 2024, and amended April 2, 2024), noting that verification badges granted by YouTube, when applied to hacked channels promoting scams, could be considered YouTube's own content and a "material" contribution to the illegitimacy of the scam. This decision opens the door for Wozniak's case to proceed, particularly regarding verification badges, and may set new limits on YouTube's immunity under Section 230 (Bloomberg Law, 2024-03-15) .