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Craig Wright present at the High Court in London in February 2024
A computer scientist is in contempt of court for persistently falsely claiming to be the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
In March, the High Court ruled that Craig Wright was not Satoshi and ordered him to stop pretending he was.
However, he continued to launch lawsuits claiming he owned intellectual property rights to Bitcoin, including claiming he was owed $US1.2 trillion ($911 billion).
A judge said this amounted to a “flagrant breach” of the court's original order and sentenced him to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.
This means that if Wright – who is originally from Australia but lives in the UK – continues to claim he invented cryptocurrency, he risks being jailed.
However, Wright, who appeared via video link, refused to reveal his whereabouts, saying only that he was in Asia.
This means that an international arrest warrant would have to be issued if the British authorities wanted to arrest him.
Wright's actions were described in court as “legal terrorism” that “put people through personal hell” in his campaign to be recognized as the inventor of Bitcoin.
The judge, Mr Justice Mellor, said Wright's arguments were “legal nonsense”, but acknowledged he was not in the UK and “appears to be well acquainted with the countries with which the UK has no extradition agreements.
“Lied a lot”
As of 2016, Wright claimed to be the man behind the mysterious nickname Satoshi Nakamoto – generally known as Satoshi – the person who invented the world's first and largest cryptocurrency.
As the founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi could be one of the richest people in the world.
The skyrocketing value of the cryptocurrency – which has exploded since Donald Trump was elected US president – means they would have around $100bn (£80bn) worth of Bitcoin in their digital wallets.
However, Wright failed to provide concrete evidence for his claim, which was largely ignored by the cryptocurrency world.
In an attempt to assert that he was Satoshi, he launched costly lawsuits against people and companies who challenged him.
His actions prompted a coalition of industry companies – the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) – to force a High Court trial this year to prevent him from pursuing further legal action.
A judge ruled in their favor, saying Wright had “lied profusely” to support his false claims.
Copa lawyer Jonathan Hough said some elements of Wright's conduct during the trial “devolved into a farce” – but he told the court it also had “very serious” consequences and created a “deterrent effect” on the industry.
Wright is one of several people who have been identified by themselves or others as Satoshi.
However, all of these claims have been refuted or dismissed, meaning the search for the true creator of Bitcoin continues.
