LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) – An Australian computer
scientist who claimed he invented bitcoin lied “extensively and
repeatedly” and forged documents “on a grand scale” to support
his false claim, a judge at London’s High Court ruled on Monday.
Craig Wright had long claimed to have been the author of a
2008 white paper, the foundational text of bitcoin, published
under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto”.
But Judge James Mellor ruled in March that the evidence
Wright was not Satoshi was “overwhelming”, after a trial in a
case brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) to stop
Wright suing bitcoin developers.
Mellor gave reasons for his conclusions on Monday, stating
in a written ruling: “Dr Wright presents himself as an extremely
clever person. However, in my judgment, he is not nearly as
clever as he thinks he is.”
The judge added: “All his lies and forged documents were in
support of his biggest lie: his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto.”
Mellor also said that Wright’s actions in suing developers
and his expressed views about bitcoin also pointed against him
being Satoshi.
Wright, who denied forging documents when he gave evidence
in February, said in a post on X: “I fully intend to appeal the
decision of the court on the matter of the identity issue.”
COPA – whose members include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s
payments firm Block – described Monday’s ruling as “a
watershed moment for the open-source community”.
“Developers can now continue their important work
maintaining, iterating on, and improving the bitcoin network
without risking their personal livelihoods or fearing costly and
time-consuming litigation from Craig Wright,” a COPA
spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
