Bloomberg: ‘Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto Isn’t Craig Wright, Court Rules’

“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

Financial Review: ‘Australian Craig Wright did not invent bitcoin, UK judge rules’

“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

CNN: ‘Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor is not ‘Satoshi Nakamoto,’ UK judge rules’

“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 Times: ‘Computer scientist is not bitcoin creator, rules judge’

“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

Washington Post: ‘UK high court rules Australian computer scientist is not mysterious bitcoin founder as he claims’

“Britain’s high court ruled Thursday that an Australian computer scientist is not, as he claimed, the mysterious creator of the bitcoin cryptocurrency.

Craig Wright has for eight years claimed that he was the man behind “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the pseudonym that masked the identity of the creator of bitcoin.

In his ruling, Justice James Mellor said Wright did not invent bitcoin, was not the man behind Satoshi, or the author of the initial versions of the bitcoin software. Further explanation will emerge when Mellor’s written statement is published at a later date.

“Having considered all the evidence and submissions presented to me in this trial, I’ve reached the conclusion that the evidence is overwhelming,” he said, according to a court transcript.

During the trial, Copa claimed Wright had created an “elaborate false narrative” and forged documents to suggest he was Satoshi and had “terrorized” those who questioned him.

A spokesperson for Copa said Thursday’s decision is a “win for developers, for the entire open source community, and for the truth.””

Read the full article at the Washington Post

Reuters: ‘Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor is not ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, UK judge rules’

“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.

udge 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.N), opens new tab – 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 Reuters

CoinDesk: ‘Craig Wright “Committed Perjury” in U.K. Trial Over Satoshi Claims, COPA Says’

A crypto alliance accusing Craig Wright of committing forgeries in attempting to prove he’d invented Bitcoin plans to ask U.K. prosecutors to consider if the computer scientist perjured himself during an ongoing trial.

“Following the evidence in this trial, it is clearer than ever – clear beyond doubt – that Dr. Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto . He did not write the Bitcoin white paper, produce the Bitcoin code or implement the Bitcoin system,” COPA Counsel Jonathan Hough said.

Wright was accused by COPA and a group of Bitcoin developers of committing forgeries in his attempts to prove he was Satoshi. On Tuesday, COPA also accused Wright of being a “dishonest witness” and attempting “very serious fraud” while testifying in court.

COPA said emails concerning Wright’s former lawyers submitted to the court during the trial (that Wright later defended were “spoofed” by unnamed bad actors) and admissions that he edited the Bitcoin white paper as recently as November 2023 are “vivid emblems” of his lies.

Read the full article on CoinDesk

City AM: ‘London Bitcoin trial: Self-proclaimed creator “lied on an extraordinary scale”‘

The London Bitcoin trial is coming to an end as a senior barrister told the High Court today that throughout, Craig Wright attempted a “very serious fraud upon the court”.

Crypto Open Patent Alliance’s barrister Hough KC of 4 New Square Chambers was speaking to the court today outlining his closing arguments to the judge.

In his written submissions, he stated that “Wright has been shown to have lied on an extraordinary scale, and it is difficult to think of a precedent for what he has done.”

The barrister wrote “even when the extent of [Wright] dishonesty and forgery was exposed to him in cross examination, he 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”.

Read the full article on CityAM

Law360: ‘Wright Blames Enemies For Forged Email In Satoshi Trial’

“Craig Wright hit back on Friday at accusations that he forged an email amid a trial over his claims that he is the inventor of bitcoin, telling a London court that an enemy could have doctored the message to sabotage his case.

Craig Wright has denied manipulating email evidence in February during the ongoing High Court trial over his controversial claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto.

The Australian computer scientist emphatically denied manipulating email evidence in late February during the High Court trial over his controversial claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto — the cryptocurrency’s pseudonymous inventor — which is still underway.

Wright, who was recalled to give evidence after concerns were raised about the email on Monday, said that he had not faked it to mislead the court about what information he had shared with his former lawyers, Ontier LLP, in 2019.

Jonathan Hough KC of 4 New Square Chambers, representing the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, asked Wright if he had “forged an email during trial to back up a dishonest account.” The alliance, known as COPA, is a group of developers challenging Wright’s claim to ownership of the bitcoin intellectual property.

“No,” Wright replied, before offering technical explanations for the anomalous email.

Wright later claimed that the email could have been faked by a third party to scuttle his case. He told the court that he suspected several people of plotting to sabotage him and that his home had been bugged and broken into multiple times.”

Read the full article at Law360

CoinDesk: ‘Craig Wright Accuses Critics of Bugging His House, Spoofing Emails to Bring Him Back to Court’

“Craig Wright accused critics of bugging his home and spoofing an email he’s been accused of doctoring during a Friday cross-examination in the U.K. trial probing his claims of having invented Bitcoin.

Spoofing involves changing the metadata of an email to – among other things – make it look like it was sent from a different address.

When asked by presiding Judge James Mellor if he could specify who did the spoofing, Wright said, “Unfortunately not. I suspect a number of people, My Lord.”

On Friday, Wright vehemently denied accusations made by COPA of backdating the email in question to support a statement he’d made in court the previous week concerning his former legal representatives at Ontier.

Wright instead blamed the timestamp and other discrepancies on email spoofing, spam folders, domain migrations, surveillance and hacking.

Judge Mellor asked why someone seeking Wright’s downfall would doctor an email to support something he’d said, to which Wright replied, “Oh, no. It doesn’t support.”

He said that the email was doctored by a malicious actor to fabricate an excuse to bring him back to court.”

Read the full article on CoinDesk