Still searching for Satoshi
The identity of Bitcoin's creator remains a mystery after a UK court found against an Australian man who had claimed to be behind the cryptocurrency. But does it really matter if Bitcoin's origins are unknown?
In December of 2015, back when you could buy a full Bitcoin for three figures, Australian Federal Police raided Craig Wright’s Sydney home after it was reported he could be the cryptocurrency’s creator. Nine years later, it’s not only Bitcoin’s price that’s grown. Wright’s legal woes have too.
The computer scientist was on Friday found by a UK high court to definitively not be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. It was the end of a case brought to Wright by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, which seeks to keep blockchain technology as open source as possible. Backed by Jack Dorsey, the nonprofit became aggrieved by Wright’s claim to owning the whitepaper behind Bitcoin, the thousands of related patents he filed for, and his litigations against people who said he was not Satoshi Nakamoto.
Wright lost the case decisively. Among the documents he submitted as evidence, COPA claims there was “forgery at an industrial scale”. One, it says, was found to be written with the help of ChatGPT. The group is now seeking to take up the forgery matter in a UK criminal court.
“The commentary of the Court and the forensic analysis is embarrassing and the judge was scathing in relation to Dr Wright’s evidence,” said Michael Bacina, partner at Piper Alderman. "Dr Wright may well face further consequences for what COPA has called out as fabrications and forgeries."
