In a landmark decision, UK High Court Judge James Mellor has ruled that Dr. Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist, is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
The verdict concludes a lawsuit initiated by the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) against Wright, who has long claimed to be the inventor of the world’s first decentralized digital currency.
TLDR
- UK High Court Judge James Mellor ruled that Dr. Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
- The verdict concludes a lawsuit initiated by the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) against Wright, who has claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin.
- The trial featured extensive allegations of document forgery against Wright, with evidence suggesting he fabricated evidence to support his claim.
- The ruling discredits Wright’s claims and impacts his ability to make copyright claims on the Bitcoin whitepaper, which is now under an MIT open-source license.
- The outcome is a victory for COPA, backed by industry titans like Jack Dorsey and Coinbase, and is considered a win for developers and the open-source community.
COPA, an organization that aims to foster the adoption of cryptocurrency technologies and eliminate patents as barriers to innovation, sought to prevent Wright from making further claims to the Satoshi Nakamoto identity. The trial, which lasted for a month, featured extensive allegations of document forgery against Wright, with evidence suggesting he fabricated evidence to support his claim.
During the closing arguments, Judge Mellor stated that the evidence presented was “overwhelming” and that he plans to write a ruling detailing his conclusions, including that Wright did not create the Bitcoin system.
The judge declared that Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper, not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto between 2008 and 2011, not the creator of the Bitcoin system, and not the author of the initial versions of the Bitcoin software.
The ruling not only discredits Wright’s claims but also impacts his ability to make copyright claims on the Bitcoin whitepaper, which is now under an MIT open-source license.
In 2023, Wright sued 13 Bitcoin Core developers and several companies for copyright violations related to the Bitcoin whitepaper and blockchain.
Despite Wright’s previous attempts to register copyright for the Bitcoin whitepaper in the United States, the court’s decision in favor of COPA limits his legal standing.
COPA’s closing submission highlighted Wright’s “extensive deception,” including an invented biographical history and forged documents.
The outcome is a victory for COPA, which is backed by industry titans like Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Coinbase, and others. A COPA spokesperson described the decision as “a win for developers, for the entire open-source community, and for the truth.”
The judge’s ruling has implications for two other cases that were halted pending the outcome of this trial, including one Wright filed against Coinbase and Dorsey’s Block, alleging he had database rights to the Bitcoin blockchain.
The conclusion that Wright is not Satoshi may influence the continuation of each of those cases.
As the cryptocurrency community celebrates this victory for developers and the open-source movement, the ruling serves as a reminder of the importance of truth and transparency in the rapidly evolving world of digital assets.
