Craig Wright attempts to prove he's Satoshi Nakamoto: How it started and where it ended
In an attempt to provide an answer to numerous speculations on who is the real creator of the Bitcoin blockchain, Australian computer scientist, Craig Wright, embarked on a journey to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator.
The identity-revelation process gained momentum in 2016 and has everything from court cases and attempts to copyright the Bitcoin whitepaper. The journey has divided the crypto community with some saying the evidence he provides is enough to show he�s Nakamoto. Others, including a U.K. court, aren�t convinced that Wright is Nakamoto. Here, we follow Craig Wright�s journey to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto.
Craig Wright�s journey to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto: How it started
Some of the people who have been thought to have created Bitcoin, but have openly denied it, include a Californian man named Dorian Nakamoto, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and computer engineer Nick Szabo.
In 2016, however, speculations started flying around that the Australian computer scientist is Bitcoin�s creator. In the following years, he confirmed the guesswork saying he partnered with a friend, Dave Kleiman, a computer security guru, and another unnamed individual to create Bitcoin
Bitcoin Foundation�s director Gavin Andresen confirmed Wright�s allegations based on his correspondences with Nakamoto during the blockchain�s early development days. Those confirming Wright to be Satoshi base their argument on email communications and chats between Nakamoto and other entities when developing the blockchain.
Not everyone bought Wright�s side of the story. The other side wants very simple proof, send or receive BTC using the original Bitcoin wallet. Better still, Wright should sign a transaction using Nakamoto�s private key or keys.
Instead, the computer scientist has opted for other means to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto. He went the legal route, which hasn�t done much good for him.
Craig Wright�s journey to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto: Key legal battles
The Craig Wright vs. Dave Kleiman case
After Kleiman passed on in 2013, Wright allegedly told his family that the two were involved in mining Bitcoin and had a considerable stash of early BTC. In 2018, Kleiman�s family, through his brother Ira Kleiman, went to court. They claimed the Australian computer scientist wanted Kleiman�s BTCs. They also said that he wanted to disinherit him his intellectual property under a company called Tulip Trading.�
Wright failed to produce the addresses holding the Bitcoins estimated to be around 1.1 million. He was also unable to provide crucial information relating to the company. In his defense, he claimed that he could not produce the addresses because �there are no public addresses in the Bitcoin system.�
The case raised forgery concerns with some documents presented as evidence by Wright appearing to be tampered with. The court ruled in Wright�s favor noting that he and Kleiman only worked together as friends and not business partners. As such, the court said Kleiman doesn�t have a share of the 1.1 million Bitcoins if at all Wright holds them.
The Miami court, however, awarded Kleiman $100 million in intellectual property infringement. The court declined to rule on whether Wright is Nakamoto, saying his identity wasn�t up for discussion in the case, slowing Wright�s ambitions to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Craig Wight vs. crypto podcaster Peter McCormack
In July 2023, Wright took crypto podcaster Peter McCormack to a London court claiming that the podcaster muddied his reputation by claiming he�s not Nakamoto.
The court ruled that the computer guru�s reputation suffered minimal damages and awarded him less than two dollars in damages. Yes, $1.29 to be exact. The court noted that Wright was deceptive in his submissions.
Wright appealed the decision in the London Supreme Court which held to the earlier ruling and barred him from appealing the case.
In a similar case, Wright took X (formerly Twitter) user Magnus Granath aka Hodlonaut to court in Norway for his claims that Wright isn�t Nakamoto. The court ruled in Hodlonaut�s favor saying he was entitled to call Wright a fraud and a scammer.
Wright has also in the past attempted to take crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken to court as part of his attempt to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto.
The COPA vs. Craig Wright case
This is probably the final, but unexpected, destination in Wright�s journey to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) took Wright to a U.K. court in February 2024 seeking to settle Wright�s identity once and for all. The court ruled that, based on the evidence produced, Wright wasn�t Nakamoto.
COPA later demanded that Wright pay 85% of its legal fees, something Wright pleaded to cover 70% instead. COPA also asked the court to bar Wright from taking entities to court on allegations of him being Bitcoin�s pseudonymous creator.
Final remarks
The documents presented in various courts to aid Wright�s claims that he�s Bitcoin�s mysterious creator Satoshi Nakamoto contain glaring discrepancies stopping Wright in his tracks to prove he�s Satoshi Nakamoto.
The COPA vs. Wright case is probably the last to focus on whether the Australian computer scientist is Bitcoin�s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.