Judge Rules Dr. Craig Wright is Not Satoshi Nakamoto
The weeks-long lawsuit brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) against Dr. Craig Wright came to an abrupt end on Thursday when Mr. Justice Mellor, the judge presiding over the case, ruled that Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.
As Mr. Justice Mellor told the court: “I will make certain declarations which I am satisfied are useful and are necessary to do justice between the parties. 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.”
The definitive ruling will be followed by a more substantial written judgment, but as WIRED reported Mr. Justice Mellor noted that the evidence against Wright’s claim to be Nakamoto is “overwhelming.” Throughout the trial, COPA detailed dozens of instances of apparent forgery and fraud committed by Wright to make it appear as though he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
The judgment is a welcome development for the Bitcoin developers who have been subjected to Wright’s legal harassment for years. The ruling should bring a definitive end to the Database Rights case handled by the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund and will have significant bearing on the Tulip Trading case that resumes next month.