Craig Wright, an Australian scientist who has long claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin, has been referred to British prosecutors for allegedly committing perjury. On Tuesday, a judge at the High Court in London found that Wright had lied extensively to support his false claim of being Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous author of the 2008 Bitcoin white paper.
Who is Craig Wright?
Craig Wright is an Australian computer scientist who has claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, since 2016. He attempted to prove in a London court case that he was the original inventor of Bitcoin and therefore held intellectual property rights, including ownership of the copyright in the Bitcoin whitepaper and initial versions of the Bitcoin software.
The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit community that seeks to remove patents and litigation as barriers to growth in crypto, filed a lawsuit against Wright in 2021 to protect the crypto community and Bitcoin’s open-source technology.
What did the British court say?
Earlier this year, in March, British High Court Judge James Mellor ruled that Wright did not develop Bitcoin. “First, Dr. Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper. Second, Dr. Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in the period 2008 to 2011. Third, Dr. Wright is not the person who created the Bitcoin system. And, fourth, he is not the author of the initial versions of the Bitcoin software,” said Judge Mellor.
Now, Judge Mellor has decided to refer the case regarding Wright’s claim to be the inventor of Bitcoin to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the organization responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales. He added that by pursuing his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto through legal action in the U.K., as well as Norway and the U.S., Wright committed “a most serious abuse” of the court process.
Then who created Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym referring to the person or group that introduced the concept of Bitcoin in 2008 through a whitepaper. Nakamoto was involved in the creation of Bitcoin and blockchain until 2010 but has not been heard from since.
The inventors of Bitcoin may have wanted to remain anonymous to safeguard their identities from governments. Another argument suggests that this anonymity was intentional, as the core idea behind Bitcoin is to promote decentralized finance. If Satoshi’s identity were revealed, the Bitcoin blockchain may not function as effectively.