Australian Craig Wright did not invent bitcoin and is not Satoshi Nakamoto, UK judge rules
It could also, if the plaintiffs get their way, pitch the 53-year-old, UK-based Australian into a new criminal trial on accusations of fraud.
But equally it might not spell the end of Dr Wright’s courtroom campaign, which has been waged through a fusillade of court actions in multiple jurisdictions over the past eight years.
Speculation has long swirled over the identity of the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, whose 2008 white paper explained how bitcoin would work and triggered the cryptocurrency’s creation. Satoshi disappeared from view in 2011, seemingly with a cache of bitcoin that would now be worth more than $110 billion.
Dr Wright has sought to establish that he is Satoshi, and with it a claim to ownership of the intellectual property of bitcoin, on the grounds that the cryptocurrency was not being used as intended.
His argument has been that bitcoin has largely become an expensively traded commodity, whereas he wants it to be a kind of digital cash, suitable for small, everyday transactions – from which his companies could reap fee revenue.
But the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance – whose leading backers include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Block and crypto exchange giant Coinbase – has sought to prevent Dr Wright from using his Satoshi claim to in effect lock up bitcoin behind a wall of patents and copyright filings.
Justice Mellor’s ruling hands victory to COPA, which initiated the court case that has been running in England’s high court since early February. Other cases have dealt with aspects of Dr Wright’s claim, but this was the first to tackle it head-on. Moreover, this case wraps together four separate lawsuits that revolve around the issue.
A COPA spokesman said: “This decision is a win for developers, for the entire open-source community, and for the truth.
“For over eight years, Dr Wright and his financial backers have lied about his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto and used that lie to bully and intimidate developers in the bitcoin community. That ends today with the court’s ruling that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.”
It was unclear on Thursday whether or when Justice Mellor would go further and grant COPA the injunction it has sought against Dr Wright, which would prevent him from continuing to claim to be Satoshi. Dr Wright’s barrister argued against this, in effect on the grounds of free speech.
A social media post from one of Dr Wright’s biggest backers, Canadian businessman Calvin Ayre, appeared to accept Justice Mellor’s verdict.
“Cool. Now Craig is not Satoshi in law. He is still the world’s foremost expert in Enterprise Blockchain,” Mr Ayre said on X.
Dr Wright’s company nChain has similarly said that its business model, and Dr Wright’s role in it, would not be affected by an adverse judgment.
Just before the trial, Dr Wright had used a blog post and a half-page ad in The Times to propose a settlement. He offered “to waive my database rights and copyrights”, and provide “an irrevocable licence in perpetuity to my opposing parties”.
COPA rejected the offer, saying it came with “loopholes that would allow him to sue people all over again”. In court, they sought to show that Dr Wright was using forged documents and inconsistent evidence to substantiate his claim. COPA’s barrister branded Dr Wright’s case “an elaborate false narrative, supported by forgery on an industrial scale”.
Dr Wright’s defence was largely that the apparent inconsistencies or alterations were the result of technical or logistical glitches, unauthorised tampering, or even hacks and compromises of his email accounts and IT systems.
His lawyers also attacked the credibility of COPA’s expert witness. The plaintiff’s barrister responded in court that Dr Wright was “playing the man when you manifestly cannot play the ball”. According to a report on the Wired website, COPA has petitioned the judge to refer Dr Wright for a criminal trial.
