“The longest-running mystery in crypto is who is Satoshi Nakamoto, the author of the 2008 white paper that laid the foundations of bitcoin.

For years Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist, has claimed he is bitcoin’s creator. In London the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, a group that is backed by Coinbase and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, sued him to stop making the claims.

This week the judge ruled in Copa’s favour. As the Guardian newspaper noted, in a highly unusual move the judge issued the verdict within seconds of the case concluding. The evidence is “overwhelming”, the judge said.

“First, Dr Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin White Paper. Second, Dr Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in the period 2008 to 2011. Third, Dr Wright is not the person who created the Bitcoin System. And, fourth, he is not the author of the initial versions of the Bitcoin software.””

Read the full article on the Financial Times

“A London judge ruled Thursday that Australiancomputer scientist Craig Wright is not the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, ruling that the evidence against his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto was “overwhelming.”

After closing submissions on Thursday, High Court Judge James Mellor said he would write a full judgement in due course but added that he was satisfied that Wright’s claims that he is Satoshi were false.

“I’m prepared to say this: Dr. Wright is not the inventor of bitcoin,” Judge Mellor said. “Dr. Wright is not the author of the bitcoin white paper. He is not the person who adopted the name Satoshi Nakamoto.”

The judge said he was willing to make these preliminary conclusions on the spot because “the evidence is clear.”

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance, a group of cryptographers, brought the claim seeking to stop Wrightfrom claiming he is the inventor of Bitcoin. COPA told the court at the start of the trial that Wright is lying and committing forgery when he claims to be Satoshi.

Judge Mellor surprised the court by giving an immediate bench ruling after a weeks-long trial. But he said he was prepared to make the findings based on all the evidence and material he has seen during the trial.

He also reinforced the certainty of his decision by noting that Wright was neither “the author of the bitcoin system” nor “the author of the initial bitcoin software.”

A spokesperson for COPA said the decision “is a win for developers, for the entire open source community and for the truth. For over eight years, Dr. Wright and his financial backers have lied about his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto and used that lie to bully and intimidate developers in the bitcoin community.

“That ends today with the court’s ruling that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto,” the spokesperson added.”

Read the full article at Law360

“Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin white paper, a U.K. judge ruled on Thursday.

“Dr. Wright has been shown to have lied on an extraordinary scale,” according to COPA’s closing submission. “He has invented an entire biographical history, producing one tranche after another of forged documents to support it.”

“Even when the extent of his dishonesty and forgery was exposed to him in cross-examination, [Wright] doubled down, forging further documents during the trial, blaming a litany of characters, asserting implausible technical excuses, and suggesting a vast and ever-growing conspiracy to frame him—all in an effort to evade his own responsibility,” COPA’s legal team said in court documents.

In response to the lawsuit, the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund said: “For years, prominent contributors to the Bitcoin community have been the subject of abusive lawsuits … These lawsuits are frivolous but effective. Many developers have decided it’s not worth the time, stress, money, and legal risk to continue working on Bitcoin.””

Read the full article at Fortune

“Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin, is not the Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, a high court judge has ruled, ending a fractious two-month trial in London.

In a highly unusual decision, the presiding judge, Mr Justice Mellor, issued the verdict within seconds of the case concluding, promising to issue a “fairly lengthy written judgment” in due course.

“However, having considered all the evidence and submissions presented to me in this trial, I’ve reached the conclusion that the evidence is overwhelming,” Mellor said.

“First, that Dr Wright is not the author of the bitcoin white paper. Second, Dr Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in the period 2008 to 2011.

“Third, Dr Wright is not the person who created the bitcoin system. And, fourth, he is not the author of the initial versions of the bitcoin software.”

Read the full article at the Guardian

“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”.

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.”

Read the full article at BBC

“Judge Edward Mellor said Thursday that Wright was not Nakamoto, did not author the Bitcoin White Paper, and was not the creator of the initial Bitcoin software, in an oral judgment at the end of the trial. A spokesperson for the High Court confirmed the result. A full written judgment will be published at a later date.

Wright has started numerous legal challenges around the world in an attempt to confirm his claimed identity as Nakamoto, mostly unsuccessfully. The UK Supreme Court denied Wright the chance to appeal a libel case against him in December, in which he was offered just £1 in damages against a Bitcoin investor who had rubbished Wright’s claim to be Nakamoto.

“This decision is a win for developers, for the entire open source community, and for the truth,” COPA said.”

Read the full article at Bloomberg

“A British judge has ruled that Brisbane-born computer scientist Craig Wright is not bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, potentially closing the curtain on years of speculation and litigation about the Australian’s claims.

In a terse verbal ruling at the end of a six-week case in London, high court judge James Mellor said “the evidence is overwhelming” that Dr Wright’s claims were false.

“I’m prepared to say this: Dr Wright is not the inventor of bitcoin,” Justice Mellor said, according to court reports. “Dr Wright is not the author of the bitcoin white paper. He is not the person who adopted the name Satoshi Nakamoto.”

Justice Mellor said he would “in due course” issue a written judgement, which would elaborate his conclusions on why Dr Wright had not created the bitcoin system nor written the bitcoin software.

The surprise snap findings on Thursday (Friday AEDT) will electrify the tech community, which has traded bitter blows over Dr Wright and his claims for almost a decade.

It could also, if the plaintiffs get their way, pitch the 53-year-old, UK-based Australian into a new criminal trial on accusations of fraud.”

Read the full article at the Financial Review

“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.

Judge James Mellor said at the end of closing arguments on Thursday that the evidence Wright was not Satoshi was “overwhelming.”

“Dr Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin white paper,” Mellor said. “Dr Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in the period 2008 to 2011.”

COPA, whose members include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s payments firm Block (SQ), said the ruling was “a win for developers, for the entire open source community and for the truth.”

“For over eight years, Dr Wright and his financial backers have lied about his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto and used that lie to bully and intimidate developers in the bitcoin community,” a COPA spokesperson said in a statement.

“That ends today with the court’s ruling that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.””

Read the full article at CNN

“The mystery of who invented bitcoin remains after a High Court judge ruled that Satoshi Nakamoto was not an Australian computer scientist living in Surrey.

Craig Wright’s claim that he was the genius behind the pseudonym used by the cryptocurrency’s founder was described in court as a “brazen lie” based on “forgery on an industrial scale”.

Lawyers for the alliance told a judge that since 2016, Wright, 53, had created an “elaborate false narrative” and had forged documents to suggest that he was Satoshi. It also accused the Australian of having “terrorised” those who had voiced doubts over his claim.”

Read the full article at the Times