Can Bitcoin Finally Go Away From Craig Wright?
Ten years after Craig Wright terrorized the Bitcoin (BTC) community by claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, a British court has ruled that Wright is not Satoshi.
The ruling was handed down this month by Justice James Mellor of the UK High Court in a civil case led by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). His decision said Wright “lied to the court extensively and repeatedly” while committing “massive perjury” to prove it was Satoshi.
Mellor exasperated Wright at length with his damning sentence: in part:
Dr. Wright presents himself as a very talented person. However, in my opinion, he is not nearly as smart as he thinks. In both written evidence and oral evidence during cross-examination, I am fully satisfied that Dr. Wright lied extensively and repeatedly to the court. Most of the lies are related to the documents he produced to support his claims. All of his lies and forged documents were in support of his biggest lie: that he was Satoshi Nakamoto.
Hardcore Bitcoiners haven't thought much of Wright since he started making his claims in 2015, but the mainstream media quickly gave him the popular platform he needed to vilify and damage people, companies, and Bitcoin's image.
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However, thanks to the court's decision, the industry can unquestioningly support the narrative of Bitcoin's “pure concept” planted by Wright – with the help, in part, of the likes of Gizmodo, Wired, BBC, The Economist, The Financial Times, etc. GQ and other publications. Many people in the media simply fail to see the truth, including that classified information is easily verifiable.
In the year Even in 2019, some in the media have yet to get the memo about Wright. When Wright submitted a white paper on US copyright claims for Bitcoin in April 2019, the Financial Times quoted a Wright spokesperson as saying, “Craig Wright is the first government agency to recognize Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.”
In addition to the press, Wright tricked Gavin Andresen into entrusting him with the Bitcoin source code when Satoshi stopped contributing and moved on to other things. Citing a “confused environment,” Wright said Bitcoin developers backed off Andresen's pledge amid the confusion. That was a big deal for the Bitcoin industry at the time. It was a nervous moment when Wright appeared on the scene.
Known only through written communication, Satoshi appears to be patient, disciplined, reasonable, and temperamental. Despite his opportunities, he never tried to bask in the limelight. He wanted early adopters to avoid introducing Bitcoin because he didn't think it was ready for further adoption. He left in 2011 after WikiLeaks started accepting bitcoins and Andreessen gave a statement to the CIA.
Related: Welcome to the UK – Please hand over your crypto
Wright, on the other hand, has always been a braggart. He insists that he is Satoshi in person, in panels, and in back-old blog posts to make it seem possible. “Faketoshi,” as Wright is known on Bitcoin Internet forums, has taken every opportunity to position himself in the limelight. Mellor wrote that Wright's attempt to prove that he was Satoshi was “a grave abuse of this court process.”
The decision represents a crushing defeat for Wright, although he says he will appeal. In the meantime, it could expose companies like Coinbase and Peter McCormack to lawsuits from those who have been hit hard by the hacks, including content creators.
If Wright was Satoshi, he could have composed a message (“Craig Wright is Satoshi”) and signed that message with the private key on the Genesis block. And it can sign the message with a PGP key – which is not forwarded. But this never happened.
The ability of one person to engage in baseless violations of the law should frighten us all. I hesitate to type the words, so as not to get caught in the cross hairs: Bitcoin can finally continue from Craig Wright.
Kadan Stadelman is a guest columnist for Cointelegraph and Chief Technology Officer of the Comodo Platform. He graduated from the University of Vienna with a degree in Information Technology in 2011 before attending the Berlin Institute of Technology for Technical Informatics and Scientific Computing. He joined the Komodo team in 2016.
This article is not intended for general information purposes and should not be construed as legal or investment advice. The views, ideas and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
