Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? 'War' begins in the UK court to decide on Bitcoin founder’s identity
Craig Wright
A big showdown is underway in the United Kingdom over who's the real creator of Bitcoin. For years, an Aussie computer scientist named Craig Wright has claimed that he's the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the author of the 2008 white paper behind Bitcoin.
However, he has failed to back his claims and people in the crypto world are not buying it.
Now, a group called the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (Copa), with support from Jack Dorsey's company Block and Coinbase, is taking Wright to court. They want the judge to say that Wright is not Nakamoto officially.
Why was a lawsuit needed?
Over the years, Wright's claims and the widespread scepticism around them have led to several legal clashes.
With this case, Copa hopes to stop Wright from challenging others who are working to develop Bitcoin-related projects. The trial is expected to last about a month and will be held at the high court in England and Wales.
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The Guardian quotes a Copa spokesperson as saying that the case would "conclusively show that Dr Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto and will not be able to continue to threaten developers."
Wright, who's been saying he's Nakamoto for years, last month offered to settle the case, but Copa rejected his offer.
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It said that the offer came with loopholes "that would allow him to sue people all over again".
Now, the trial is a big deal for anyone involved in Bitcoin projects and the wider crypto community.
Who is Nakamoto?
Bitcoin's creator, mythically known as Nakamoto, published a paper in 2008 that became the basis for the cryptocurrency. Nakamoto interacted with the first Bitcoin users but vanished in 2011. Since then, people have been guessing who Nakamoto is. Wright came forward in 2016, but he hasn't been able to prove it because he hasn't shown the private keys needed to access the original bitcoins Nakamoto mined.
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The trial will dig into evidence from both sides, including Copa's claim that some of Wright's proof is fake.
This isn't Wright's first legal rodeo. In 2022, he won a case against a blogger who said his Nakamoto claim was fake, but he only got a tiny amount of £1 in damages. The current trial will tackle various cases related to the identity dispute, with Wright facing questioning for six days starting Tuesday. The verdict could affect the rules and procedures for how the Bitcoin system works, especially since Wright supports a version called Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV).
Labelling the trial "a war," a spokesperson for Wright said: "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."
(With inputs from agencies)
