A computer scientist has been found to have committed contempt of court for falsely and persistently claiming to be the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. In March, the High Court ruled that Craig Wright was not Satoshi and ordered him to cease claiming he was. Nevertheless, he continued to initiate legal proceedings, asserting his intellectual property rights to Bitcoin, including a claim that he was owed $1.2 trillion (£911 billion).
A judge deemed this a “flagrant breach” of the initial court order and sentenced him to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. This implies that if Wright, who hails from Australia but resides in the UK, persists in claiming he invented the cryptocurrency, he will risk imprisonment. However, during his appearance via videolink, Wright refused to disclose his whereabouts, merely stating he was in Asia. Consequently, an international arrest warrant would have to be issued if UK authorities sought to detain him.
Wright’s actions were characterized in court as “legal terrorism,” inflicting personal turmoil on individuals in his quest to be recognized as Bitcoin’s creator. Judge Mr. Justice Mellor described Wright’s arguments as “legal nonsense,” acknowledging that he was not in the UK and seemed well-versed in countries lacking extradition arrangements with the UK.
Commencing in 2016, Wright asserted himself as the individual behind the enigmatic pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the purported inventor of the world’s foremost cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. As the progenitor of Bitcoin, Satoshi could potentially be among the wealthiest individuals globally. The escalating value of the cryptocurrency, especially since the election of Donald Trump as US president, could amount to an estimated $100 billion (£80 billion) in their digital wallets.
However, Wright failed to furnish substantive evidence to substantiate his claim, which was largely discredited by the cryptocurrency community. In his bid to establish himself as Satoshi, he instigated expensive legal battles against those who challenged him. These actions prompted a coalition of industry entities known as the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) to instigate a high court trial this year to prevent him from pursuing further legal actions. The judge ruled in their favor, stating that Wright had “lied extensively” to bolster his unfounded assertion.
Copa lawyer Jonathan Hough expressed that certain aspects of Wright’s behavior during the trial bordered on farcical. Nevertheless, he emphasized the grave repercussions and “chilling effect” that it had on the industry. Wright represents one of many individuals who have been self-identified or identified by others as Satoshi. However, all such claims have been debunked or dismissed, perpetuating the ongoing search for the genuine creator of Bitcoin.
