For many years, Craig Wright has claimed that he is the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. However, the matter was not limited to ordinary statements — Wright demanded that the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), created to fight for open access to intellectual property, remove the Bitcoin technical document from the website. In 2021, Wright also blamed the sites bitcoin.org and bitcoincore.org in violation of copyright and demanded that the sites delete the Bitcoin White Paper.
The cases were consolidated and transferred to the High Court in London. Judge James Mellor concluded that Wright had repeatedly lied to the court, and the evidence that the entrepreneur was Satoshi Nakamoto was falsified. In March 2024, the High Court of London granted COPA's claim.
According to the court's request, the Australian posted a confirmation on his personal website that he is neither Satoshi Nakamoto nor the inventor of Bitcoin. Judge Mellor also ordered Wright to post a similar statement on his X social media account and on Slack channels for wider public publicity. However, the judge rejected COPA's demand that Wright declare his defeat in the famous British edition of The Times. COPA claims that Wright advertised himself through this publication.
Wright will also have to pay COPA costs in the amount of more than 6 million pounds (about $7.8 million). At the same time, the court ruling states that the entrepreneur earns about 160,000 pounds (about $ 208,000) per year. Moreover, Judge Mellor recommended that the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) adopt a law against Wright for forgery and perjury. For these offenses, Wright can be fined and even imprisoned if the court finds him guilty.
Recall that in June, BSV Claims, a company associated with Craig Wright, accused the largest crypto exchanges Binance and Kraken of collusion and illegal delisting of BSV.