Jack Dorsey–backed COPA tells court that Craig Wright ‘lied on an extraordinary scale’ about creating Bitcoin—and a U.K. judge has agreed
Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin white paper, a U.K. judge ruled on Thursday. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images
Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin white paper, a U.K. judge ruled on Thursday.
After closing arguments in the Crypto Open Patent Alliance trial, Judge James Mellor ruled that Wright is not Nakamoto, didn’t create Bitcoin, didn’t author the Bitcoin white paper, and didn’t create any of the related technology. COPA, backed by Jack Dorsey, took Wright to court last month in an attempt to prevent him from claiming intellectual property rights over the technology.
“Dr. Wright has been shown to have lied on an extraordinary scale,” according to COPA’s closing submission. “He has invented an entire biographical history, producing one tranche after another of forged documents to support it.”
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“I will make certain declarations which I am satisfied are useful and are necessary to do justice between the parties. First, that Dr Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin White Paper. Second, Dr Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi…
— jack (@jack) March 14, 2024
The Australian-born computer scientist was also accused of using the courts as a vehicle for fraud.
“Even when the extent of his dishonesty and forgery was exposed to him in cross-examination, [Wright] doubled down, forging further documents during the trial, blaming a litany of characters, asserting implausible technical excuses, and suggesting a vast and ever-growing conspiracy to frame him—all in an effort to evade his own responsibility,” COPA’s legal team said in court documents.
COPA was founded in 2020 “to encourage the adoption and advancement of cryptocurrency technologies and to remove patents as a barrier to growth and innovation,” according to its website. Some of its 33 members include Coinbase, Meta, MicroStrategy, Worldcoin, and Kraken.
“Satoshi understood the value of decentralization and built Bitcoin so that it could not be controlled by a single person or entity. We’re pleased the court recognized the overwhelming evidence that categorically settles that Wright is not Satoshi,” a Kraken spokesperson said in a statement to Fortune.
In 2023, Wright sued 13 Bitcoin Core developers and a group of companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block, for copyright violations relating to Bitcoin.
March 29, 15 days from now, marks 5 years since I received the first legal letter from Craig Wright’s lawyers, via DM on twitter. They demanded I apologize, and that I recognize Craig as Satoshi.
Today, UK court ruled that Craig Wright is officially not Satoshi Nakamoto.
My… pic.twitter.com/qI8vIsJLux
— hodlonaut 80 IQ 13%er 🌮⚡🔑 🐝 (@hodlonaut) March 14, 2024
In response to the lawsuit, the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund said: “For years, prominent contributors to the Bitcoin community have been the subject of abusive lawsuits … These lawsuits are frivolous but effective. Many developers have decided it’s not worth the time, stress, money, and legal risk to continue working on Bitcoin.”
