Dr. Craig Wright arrives at the Rolls Building, part of the Royal Courts of Justice on February 06, 2024 in London, England. The Australian-born and English-resident computer scientist, Dr. Craig Wright, claims to be the mythical founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, and asserts authorship of the 2008 white paper, a foundational document for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) is urging the court to declare otherwise, arguing that this legal intervention seeks to mitigate the potentially adverse effects of lawsuits initiated by Wright. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Australian man Craig Wright, who claims to have invented Bitcoin, has been sent to UK prosecutors by Judge James Mellor for allegedly lying under oath, according to CNBC. This comes after a legal fight where Wright tried to prove he was Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's legitimate creator.
Wright's efforts to claim intellectual property rights over Bitcoin's white paper and early software versions have been met with skepticism from the cryptocurrency community, which operates on the principle of decentralized ownership and governance.
The CPS will now assess whether to prosecute Wright for what Mellor described as "wholescale perjury and forgery of documents." This could potentially lead to a warrant for his arrest and extradition proceedings.
The true identity of Bitcoin's creator, known under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, remains unknown and unconfirmed to this day. Despite various claims and speculations over the years, including by individuals like Craig Wright, no definitive proof has emerged to conclusively identify Nakamoto.
Throughout the legal proceedings, VCPost earlier reported the court found that Wright had presented falsified documents on a large scale to support his claim. Mellor's ruling characterized Wright's actions as a serious abuse of the legal process across multiple jurisdictions, including the UK, Norway, and the US.
Wright, through his holding company Tulip Trading, has yet to publicly respond to these latest developments.
In 2014, VCPost remarked that Nakamoto's anonymity has been a deliberate choice, with the creator choosing to remain hidden for privacy reasons and to avoid potential legal and regulatory scrutiny associated with being the creator of a globally influential digital currency.
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