Craig Wright loses Bitcoin lawsuit and faces criminal contempt proceedings
The court's ruling dismissed Wright assertion that he was the true creator of Bitcoin
Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who has long claimed to be the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, has been found in contempt of court by a London judge.
The ruling came after Wright was found to have breached multiple court orders following his defeat in a lawsuit filed by the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a nonprofit backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, according to Coingape.
COPA had sued Wright in 2021 after he claimed copyright ownership of the Bitcoin whitepaper. The court's ruling dismissed his assertion that he was the true creator of Bitcoin, with Judge James Mellor stating that the orders against Wright had been "proved beyond reasonable doubt."
Contempt Charges and Legal Repercussions
The contempt ruling stems from Wright’s decision to file a £900 billion ($1.1 trillion) lawsuit in the UK regarding intellectual property rights tied to Bitcoin. This move directly violated an earlier court order prohibiting him from initiating further litigation over Bitcoin’s authorship. Under English law, contempt of court is a criminal offense that carries the potential for imprisonment.
Questioned where he was during the procedures, Wright would have said that he was in “Asia”, according to Hodlnaut, one of the people involved in the lawsuit.
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Jonathan Hough, representing COPA, stated that Wright "has expressed no remorse" for his actions and "remains pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for his misconduct."
Wright, who appeared via video conference, denied being in contempt, claiming he was willing to amend his lawsuit to avoid implications about the ownership of Bitcoin’s creation. He has since vowed to appeal the ruling.
A hearing to determine Wright’s penalty is set for December. In the meantime, his ongoing lawsuit against Block, formerly Square, is temporarily on hold. The case is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for Wright, who continues to insist he is Satoshi Nakamoto despite widespread industry skepticism and denial of that.
Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high of $107,140, shattering previous records. This surge has made the real Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates, with an estimated fortune of over $117 billion from 1.1 million bitcoins.
