Judge rules computer scientist not Bitcoin inventor (2024)

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Judge rules computer scientist not Bitcoin inventor (1)Image source, Reuters

By Joe Tidy

Cyber correspondent

The judge overseeing a legal battle about who invented Bitcoin has ruled that it is not Australian computer scientist Craig Wright.

The question had been examined in a five week trial at the High Court.

The judge, Mr Justice Mellor, made his ruling as soon as the proceedings had concluded.

He had been expected to retire to consider the case but said he was able to reach a decision so quickly because the "evidence was overwhelming".

Bitcoin is the world's best known cryptocurrency - and has recently captured the headlines after surging to a new record high valuation.

But the identity of the person or people who invented it has always been unknown, other than they go by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

Dr Wright, who is from Australia, has claimed to be Satoshi since 2016 - but his claims and evidence to back them up have long been questioned by cryptocurrency experts.

He has been in and out of court for years in legal battles with individuals who challenged his story.

Twitter founder

This case, heard at the Intellectual Property Court, a division of London's High Court, was brought by a group of Bitcoin companies.

Image source, Getty Images

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) - whose members include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's payments firm, Block - accused Dr Wright of creating a chilling effect on the development of the cryptocurrency because of his aggressive legal cases.

During the hearing, COPA's legal team said Dr Wright had carried out a "a massive campaign of dishonesty and forgery".

It even accused him of forging fresh documents while the proceedings were ongoing.

COPA's lawyer, Jonathan Hough, said elements of Dr Wight's conduct "stray into farce" - but he told the court it also had "deadly serious" consequences.

"On the basis of his dishonest claim to be Satoshi, he has pursued claims he puts at hundreds of billions of dollars, including against numerous private individuals," he told the trial.

Throughout the trial Dr Wright's legal team argued that if he was not the inventor then the real Satoshi Nakamoto would have come forward to discredit him.

Mr Justice Mellor agreed that Dr Wright was not who he said he was.

"Dr Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto", he told the court.

"Dr Wright is not the person who created the Bitcoin system."

He said he would give a full written judgement in due course.

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Judge rules computer scientist not Bitcoin inventor (2024)

FAQs

Why is Craig Wright not Satoshi? ›

The ruling brings to a close a six-week trial, in which the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of crypto companies, asked the court to declare that Wright is not Satoshi on the basis that he had allegedly fabricated his evidence and contorted his story repeatedly as new inconsistencies came to light.

Is a UK judge ruled that Craig Wright is not the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin? ›

A UK judge ruled that Craig Wright is not the inventor of bitcoin. London — An Australian computer scientist who claims he invented bitcoin is not “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the pseudonymous inventor of the cryptocurrency, a judge at London's High Court ruled on Thursday.

Who is the real inventor of Bitcoin? ›

Bitcoin was created by an anonymous person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto published a whitepaper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," outlining the concept of a decentralized digital currency. 1 The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains unknown to this day.

Who is the self proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin? ›

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".

How do we not know who created Bitcoin? ›

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym used by the creator or creators of Bitcoin. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is not publicly known. One of the first major public investigations ended with Dorian Nakamoto being identified as Bitcoin's creator, but he continues to decline the claim.

Who owns the most Bitcoin after Satoshi? ›

Not including Satoshi, three bitcoin addresses contain more than 100,000 bitcoin each. The three addresses with the most bitcoin belong to Binance, Bitfinex, and another address, whose identity is unknown. These three addresses collectively own more than 564,902 bitcoin.

How much Bitcoin does Satoshi have? ›

How Much Bitcoin Does Satoshi Own? Satoshi Nakamoto is rumored to own 1.1 million bitcoin in several accounts, but no one is 100% sure these account belong to Bitcoin's creator.

Who created the first block of Bitcoin? ›

A Genesis Block is the first block on a cryptocurrency blockchain. In 2009, a developer named Satoshi Nakamoto created the Genesis Block on the Bitcoin blockchain. The information from the Genesis Block is present in all blocks in a blockchain because of how it is encrypted and used in the following blocks.

Who owns Bitcoin list? ›

10 Companies Holding the Most BTC
CompanyTotal BitcoinUSD Value
MicroStrategy Inc.174,530$11,598,051,950
Galaxy Digital Holdings17,518$1,164,124,644
Marathon Digital Holdings13,716$911,470,123
Tesla, Inc.10,500$697,757,093
6 more rows
Apr 24, 2024

Is Putin the founder of Bitcoin? ›

Let's file this one under “wildly improbable but oh-so-juicy.” While Putin may possess many talents, cryptocurrency visionary likely isn't one of them. However, the conspiracy theory certainly highlights the enduring mystique of Satoshi Nakamoto and our fascination with the shadowy forces that shape the digital world.

How long does it take to mine 1 Bitcoin? ›

How Long Does It Take to Mine 1 Bitcoin? The reward for mining is 3.125 bitcoins. It takes the network about 10 minutes to mine one block, so it takes about 10 minutes to mine 3.125 bitcoins.

Who is the real owner of Bitcoin? ›

Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed Bitcoin, authored the Bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed Bitcoin's original reference implementation.

How many bitcoins will ever be created? ›

The maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins will be reached around the year 2140, after which no new bitcoins can be mined. The 21 million Bitcoin limit also has important implications for the process of Bitcoin mining.

Does Russia own Bitcoin? ›

How much Bitcoin do Russia and China hold? - Quora. Russian citizens reportedly own 16.5 trillion rubles ($214 billion) worth of cryptocurrencies, according to government estimates. Records show that China holds 194,000 BTC, 833,000 ETH, and a variety of other unnamed cryptocurrencies.

Who owns most Bitcoin? ›

Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is believed to own the most bitcoins, with estimates suggesting over 1 million BTC mined in the early days of the network.

Who controls Bitcoin? ›

Bitcoin is not controlled by any single group or person. Instead, it is governed by multiple stakeholders — including developers, miners, and users. Developers write the code that makes Bitcoin run; miners validate transactions; and users put the software to work by trading, transacting, holding, and more.

Can you be traced using Bitcoin? ›

While bitcoin transactions are traceable, it is not easy for anyone to directly track your personal identity through these transactions. The blockchain records only the wallet addresses involved in each transaction, not the personal information of the individuals behind those wallets.

Who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto? ›

Since 2016, Wright has asserted that he is the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym for Bitcoin's otherwise anonymous creator. Despite his claims, most of the cryptocurrency community either rejected or remained highly skeptical of Craig Wright being Satoshi.

What was the ruling of Copa vs Wright? ›

Phil Sherrell, partner at Bird & Bird who successfully acted for COPA said, “Today's judgment is a devastating blow for Craig Wright, whose fraudulent claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto - the creator of Bitcoin - has been comprehensively demolished by Mr Justice Mellor.

Is Satoshi Nakamoto an alias? ›

Despite extensive research, Satoshi's true identity remains unknown, and they stopped being involved in the project in 2011. Satoshi Nakamoto is the alias used by the unknown creator(s) of Bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology.

Does Satoshi still have Bitcoin? ›

Satoshi Nakamoto is rumored to own 1.1 million bitcoin in several accounts, but no one is 100% sure these account belong to Bitcoin's creator.

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