Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin white paper, a U.K. judge ruled on Thursday.
After closing arguments in the Crypto Open Patent Alliance trial, Judge James Mellor ruled that Wright is not Nakamoto, didn’t create Bitcoin, didn’t author the Bitcoin white paper, and didn’t create any of the related technology. COPA, backed by Jack Dorsey, took Wright to court last month in an attempt to prevent him from claiming intellectual property rights over the technology.
“Dr. Wright has been shown to have lied on an extraordinary scale,” according to COPA’s closing submission. “He has invented an entire biographical history, producing one tranche after another of forged documents to support it.”
W
"I will make certain declarations which I am satisfied are useful and are necessary to do justice between the parties. First, that Dr Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin White Paper. Second, Dr Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi…
The Australian-born computer scientist was also accused of using the courts as a vehicle for fraud.
“Even when the extent of his dishonesty and forgery was exposed to him in cross-examination, [Wright] doubled down, forging further documents during the trial, blaming a litany of characters, asserting implausible technical excuses, and suggesting a vast and ever-growing conspiracy to frame him—all in an effort to evade his own responsibility,” COPA’s legal team said in court documents.
COPA was foundedin 2020 “to encourage the adoption and advancement of cryptocurrency technologies and to remove patents as a barrier to growth and innovation,” according to its website. Some of its 33 members include Coinbase, Meta, MicroStrategy, Worldcoin, and Kraken.
“Satoshi understood the value of decentralization and built Bitcoin so that it could not be controlled by a single person or entity. We’re pleased the court recognized the overwhelming evidence that categorically settles that Wright is not Satoshi,” a Kraken spokesperson said in a statement to Fortune.
In 2023, Wright sued 13 Bitcoin Core developers and a group of companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block, for copyright violations relating to Bitcoin.
March 29, 15 days from now, marks 5 years since I received the first legal letter from Craig Wright's lawyers, via DM on twitter. They demanded I apologize, and that I recognize Craig as Satoshi.
Today, UK court ruled that Craig Wright is officially not Satoshi Nakamoto.
My… pic.twitter.com/qI8vIsJLux
In response to the lawsuit, the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund said: “For years, prominent contributors to the Bitcoin community have been the subject of abusive lawsuits … These lawsuits are frivolous but effective. Many developers have decided it’s not worth the time, stress, money, and legal risk to continue working on Bitcoin.”
Learn more about all things crypto with short, easy-to-read lesson cards. Click here for Fortune's Crypto Crash Course.
FAQs
Jack Dorsey–backed COPA tells court that Craig Wright 'lied on an extraordinary scale' about creating Bitcoin—and a U.K. judge has agreed. Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin white paper, a U.K. judge ruled on Thursday.
Is a London judge ruled that Craig Wright is not the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin? ›
A UK judge ruled that Craig Wright is not the inventor of bitcoin. London — An Australian computer scientist who claims he invented bitcoin is not “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the pseudonymous inventor of the cryptocurrency, a judge at London's High Court ruled on Thursday.
Is Wright not the inventor of bitcoin? ›
The judge overseeing a legal battle about who invented Bitcoin has ruled that it is not Australian computer scientist Craig Wright. The question had been examined in a five week trial at the High Court. The judge, Mr Justice Mellor, made his ruling as soon as the proceedings had concluded.
Why is Craig Wright not Satoshi? ›
The ruling brings to a close a six-week trial, in which the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of crypto companies, asked the court to declare that Wright is not Satoshi on the basis that he had allegedly fabricated his evidence and contorted his story repeatedly as new inconsistencies came to light.
Who is the self proclaimed inventor of bitcoin? ›
Craig Wright has long claimed to have been the author of a 2008 white paper, the foundational text of bitcoin, published under the pseudonym. The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) took Wright to court to stop him suing bitcoin developers, asking for a ruling that Wright was not Satoshi.
Who owns the most Bitcoin? ›
Satoshi Nakamoto. The anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, reportedly possesses approximately 1 million Bitcoin, which are stored in multiple wallets. At the current price, the amount would be worth around $60 billion.
Does Satoshi Nakamoto own Bitcoin? ›
One that has been on my mind (and that I wrote about at length here) is the influence of Satoshi Nakamoto, who owns over a million Bitcoins that haven't moved in well over a decade. Everyone assumes that Satoshi will never return to oversee his creation, and I agree with that.
Who created bitcoin What problem did it solve? ›
Satoshi Nakamoto basically wanted an online currency for the internet that would function just like physical cash (“digital cash”), that could NOT be controlled by anyone. So what did he do? He went to work to create a brand new system that would do just that.
Who invented blockchain? ›
The first decentralized blockchain was conceptualized by a person (or group of people) known as Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008.
Who owns NFT? ›
The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded. Initially pitched as a new class of investment asset, by September 2023, one report claimed that over 95% of NFT collections had zero monetary value.
As of February 2023, Dr. Wright has an estimated net worth of $80 million. He has a 5-6% share of Bitcoin SV's total worldwide revenue. He also earns a fair share of his wealth through his side ventures and businesses.
Who owns the most Bitcoin after Satoshi? ›
Not including Satoshi, three bitcoin addresses contain more than 100,000 bitcoin each. The three addresses with the most bitcoin belong to Binance, Bitfinex, and another address, whose identity is unknown. These three addresses collectively own more than 564,902 bitcoin.
Who owns the most Bitcoin Satoshi? ›
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is believed to own the most bitcoins, with estimates suggesting over 1 million BTC mined in the early days of the network.
How many bitcoins will ever be created? ›
The maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins will be reached around the year 2140, after which no new bitcoins can be mined. The 21 million Bitcoin limit also has important implications for the process of Bitcoin mining.
What is the maximum number of bitcoins that can ever be mined? ›
Only 21 million bitcoins can ever be mined — but projections say the last won't be mined until around 2140. A major constraint on how many bitcoins there are is the block reward halving process — and a halving event is expected in April 2024.
How many satoshis are in a Bitcoin? ›
Satoshis are a tiny subunit of bitcoin. Each bitcoin is made up of 100 million satoshis.
How much bitcoin does Nakamoto have? ›
Satoshi Nakamoto owns the most bitcoin with an estimated 1.1 million BTC. Satoshi not only invented but also kickstarted Bitcoin, by being the first miner to create blocks of transactions.
What is the full name of a person who claims to be the Wright Satoshi Nakamoto? ›
Last month I wrote about the extraordinary trial which pitted an Australian IT expert Craig Wright who claims he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin, against the Bitcoin establishment in the form of COPA, which said he was a fraud.
