Key Takeaways
- Computer scientist and businessman Craig Wright was sentenced to 12 months in prison for contempt of court after he sued crypto companies for marketing Bitcoin, which he claims as his intellectual property.
- In July, the London High Court declared that the Australian was not in fact the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, which he later admitted in a blog post. He was also asked not to file lawsuits against crypto firms.
- But Wright continued to sue companies, trying to claim over $1 trillion in damages. He even filed a $1.2 trillion claim against Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s crypto firm, Block, resulting in the court sentencing him to prison and fining him $180,000.
- It was in 2015 that Wright came out claiming to be the creator of the apex cryptocurrency after tech outlets Wired and Gizmodo identified him as a potential candidate. Despite his arguments, he failed to provide concrete evidence to prove that he was Satoshi.
Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, founder of the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) blockchain, has been given a three-year suspended sentence for contempt of court in the United Kingdom after falsely claiming to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin (BTC).
Craig Wright Faces Prison Time After Falsely Claiming To Be Satoshi Nakamoto
During the hearing on December 19, Judge Hames Mellow sentenced Wright for filing numerous lawsuits against Bitcoin developers, which breached a court order from July. He was charged on five counts of contempt of court and will face 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and a $180,000 fine. This means that if Wright, who is a UK resident, continues to claim he invented the cryptocurrency, he will be jailed for three years.
In March, the London High Court declared that Wright was not the pseudonymous creator of the flagship cryptocurrency, and he even admitted it on his website following the ruling. The contempt ruling was part of the case by the crypto advocacy group, Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which sued the Australian for violating the court’s order preventing him from filing lawsuits against crypto firms for promoting Bitcoin on the basis that he is its inventor IP-holder.
According to COPA attorney Jonathan Hough, Wright sued over 100 crypto companies, requesting more than $1 trillion in damages over his claims of being Satoshi. Hough said in court that the lawsuits were a “desperate publicity stunt” to keep his “cultish supporters” engaged.
However, Wright, who appeared at the hearing via video, refused to disclose his whereabouts, only saying that he was in Asia. In that case, if the UK authorities want to detain him, then will be able to issue an international arrest warrant. The court described his actions as “legal terrorism that put people through personal hell” in his campaign to be recognized as the creator of Bitcoin.
Judge Mellor dismissed Wright’s arguments as “legal nonsense”, but acknowledged that despite not being in the UK, he is well aware of countries with which Britain does not have extradition arrangements. He had already refused to abide by an order to attend the hearing in person after stating that he could only do so if paid 240,000 GBP to cover his costs and lost earnings.
Craig’s Claims of Being Bitcoin’s Founder Has No Credibility
It was in 2015 that Wright first claimed to be the face behind the mysterious moniker Satoshi Nakamoto. However, he failed to provide any concrete evidence to support his claim, which was laughed off and widely regarded as false within the crypto community. In a desperate attempt to assert he was Satoshi, the computer scientist launched costly legal cases against individuals and companies that challenged him.
His claims of being Satoshi became public after tech publications Wired and Gizmodo identified him as a potential candidate, citing various pieces of evidence including emails and business dealings. However, Wright was unable to provide definite proof of his authorship of the Bitcoin whitepaper, such as a message signed with Satoshi’s private key, which would have substantiated his claims.
Wright was sentenced after he sued co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and his newly formed crypto company Block for $1.2 trillion. This came despite the London High Court supporting COPA’s argument against his ability to sue Bitcoin developers and service providers.
The 50-year-old previously claimed intellectual property rights associated with Bitcoin, but then the court found he lied about his role in developing the blockchain and its cryptocurrency.
2024 has no doubt been one of the most significant years since Bitcoin’s inception. The digital asset hit the six-figure mark for the first time in history following pro-crypto U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s election victory. This year also saw Bitcoin enter Wall Street in the form of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and reports that Trump could establish a national Bitcoin reserve have helped it surge to multiple record highs. With its value on the upward trajectory, Bitcoin could become a key player in reshaping global finance in the years ahead.
Yet, for all its might, the origin of the leading cryptocurrency is still unknown. Satoshi Nakamoto could technically be one of the world’s richest people as his wallet currently holds 1 million BTC, worth approximately $96.6 billion, which were his rewards for maintaining the blockchain. Nakamoto left the project in 2010, and since then his whereabouts have been unknown, and tokens in his wallet remain unspent.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $96,571 – down 4.48% in the last 24 hours.
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