Explained: Is Craig Wright the original Satoshi Nakamoto? The mystery of bitcoin inventor reaches UK court
The crypto community worldwide is dealing with this billion-dollar question: Who created bitcoin and the 2008 white paper that launched the blockchain-based cryptocurrency? For years, people attributed the creation of this revolutionary currency to a mythical figure known as ‘Satoshi Nakamoto.’ It is believed that Satoshi Nakamoto published the white paper in 2008, exchanged some emails with the currency’s first adherents and then disappeared in 2011.
Satoshi Nakamoto is shrouded in such a mystery that some even doubt the existence of any such person.
However, the debate around the real owner of bitcoin turned intense in 2016 when Australian techie, Craig Wright, asserted that he is the progenitor of the highly-valued cryptocurrency. Additionally, he accused the crypto developer community of “misusing his creation” and converting it into an expensively traded commodity while the original idea was to make it like digital cash for small, everyday transactions.
Craig Wright’s claims are huge and if proven in a court of law, bitcoin would be locked up behind a wall of patents and copyright filings, from which Wright’s company can reap lots of fee revenue.
Opposition from the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance
While the 53-year-old Australian techie has fought a number of legal clashes over the past eight years, the recent one features the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which vehemently opposes Wright’s claims and dismisses them as “brazen lie.”
It asked the high court in London for a ruling, or “negative declaration”, that Wright is not Nakamoto. COPA is no ordinary organisation, with ex-Twitter owner Jack Dorsey and the cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase as its main backers.
The trial, which started on Monday (Feb 5), is expected to last a month and is being heard at the high court’s business and property courts of England and Wales.
COPA’s barrister, Jonathan Hough, said on the first day of the trial, “Our case is that Dr Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto is a brazen lie, an elaborate false narrative supported by forgery on an industrial scale.”
Hough also claimed that the documents that Wright presented to prove himself as Satoshi were fake and contradictory.
Claims by COPA against Craig Wright
In a court filing, COPA alleged that the copy of the 2008 “white paper”, which is the foundation text of bitcoin, presented by Wright is written in a different format from the original document. COPA maintains while Wright’s copy is written using LaTeX, the original copy was written using OpenOffice.
COPA further added that the file presented by Craig Wright leads to a pdf “which only superficially resembles the bitcoin white paper but which is in fact substantially different”.
COPA also alleged, using metadata information from the file itself, that it was created on 19 November 2023 as a blank document. COPA even added that one document disclosed by Wright appeared to have been written by ChatGPT.
Counterarguments by Craig Wright
Craig Wright argues that some of the apparent inconsistencies in his documentary evidence are caused by back-dated edits, technical glitches, logistical or legal snafus, or unauthorised tampering.
Wright also questioned the credibility of the independent experts who pointed out flaws in his documents. “I have done over 20 masters degrees now,” Wright is said to have boasted in the courtroom. However, the court ruled that it was open to relying on opinions given by an independent expert.
COPA rejects Wright’s settlement offer
Last month, Wright reportedly offered to settle the case, a move rejected by COPA. The offer included the involved parties to make a donation to a church in Australia and a mandate for his critics in the developer community to cease “any media campaign(s) against me”.
The offer also required unnamed entities to cease to claim that they represent the original bitcoin “as envisioned by me as Satoshi Nakamoto”.
“I believe the settlement terms are broadly uncontroversial, beneficial to the industry as a whole, and intended to draw a fresh start in the history of bitcoin to guarantee its success in whatever form it takes,” Wright reportedly wrote in his settlement offer.
Watch: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? UK court to decide on Bitcoin founder’s identity
However, COPA said the offer carried several loopholes that Wright could still use in his favour to issue threats against the developer community.
Where are bitcoin’s private keys?
Despite claiming himself to be the original creator of bitcoin, Wright has so far failed to provide the private keys – a secure code comprising a hexadecimal string of numbers and letters – that would unlock access to the 1.1m original bitcoins “mined” by Nakamoto that are worth about $46bn at the current price.
Wright claims that he had destroyed the computer hard drive which would have given him access to the keys.
As the court case drags on, the crypto community is making interpretations of the proceedings back and forth. The case has generated so much interest that the court has even allowed people to log in and watch it remotely.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of Wright said the trial was “really a war.”
“Think of it as a modern-day tech battle, akin to that between Blu-ray and HD DVD or, for even older readers, Betamax versus VHS,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
