Craig Wright to Pay Over $1 Million in Satoshi’s Identity Case

Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator or group behind the creation of the first blockchain network has remained one of the most talked about mysteries. Craig Wright, a computer scientist hailing from Australia shocked the world after claiming to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto.

At present, there is a legal battle going on between Craig Wright and Bitcoin Core developers. His court appointment has been rescheduled for February after the emergence of new evidence.  As per media reports, a Judge in a British court has set the next court appointment to 5th February next year.

Wright introduced himself as the real Satoshi Nakamoto in 2016. On this account, he sued 13 Bitcoin Core developers and a host of blockchain firms including Coinbase, Blockstream, and Block.

Wright alleged that these firms violated the copyrighted material from Bitcoin White Paper, Bitcoin file format, and Bitcoin database. A non-profit blockchain firm called Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) is representing the defendants in the ongoing lawsuit.

Judge Asks Craig Wright to Submit Plausible Evidence

Judge Edward Williams Mellor presented a 97-page document in the court of law as proof to support his claims. These documents were collected from two USB drives extracted from Wright’s house. One of these documents is LaTex files which is open-sourced drafting software that Wright allegedly used to write Bitcoin White Paper.

On the other hand, the defendants in the case have accused Wright of defrauding investors, fabricating evidence, forging metadata, and purposefully dragging the case proceedings.

They have retained that Wright files surfaced following the revelation of 50 counts of evidence tempering that disproves the authenticity of his documents. On this account, Judge Mellor granted the developers a second security application and ordered Wright to pay 800,000 pounds or $1 million in penalty by January.

Wright is obliged to release the payment in the event that he loses the case. He has already added 100,000 pounds or $127 million as a security deposit. In addition, Wright is also set to issue a payment of 65000 pounds or $82 pounds to cover COPA costs for covering the consultant fees to testify for his Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Wright has retained that he has a disability on account of ASD and submitted a report to make adjustments for him during the court proceedings.  

Bitcoin Core Developers Challenge Wright’s ASD Requests

Bitcoin Core developers addressed the ASD requirements requests from Wright that included cross-examination questioning. They hired an expert to support their claims and directed Wright to access LiveNote Screen only and write questions on a paper during the court proceedings.

Bitcoin programming is open-sourced and distributed in accordance with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology license. The MIT license allows members of the public to reuse the source code for any purpose such as creating propriety applications.

On the other hand, Wright has alleged that Bitcoin Core developers are a Bitcoin partnership that controls the Bitcoin network. COPA filed amended claims in Craig Wright’s lawsuits recording 50 instances of forgery from the key reliance documents presented by him.

The courts are yet to rule whether Wright is the real Satoshi or not in the January 2024 hearing which is now moved to February. COPA has claimed that Wright tempered the key documents and the Judge noted that Wright showcased resistance regarding the application to amend and noted that his allegations are akin to fraud.