In London, the trial of the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin has begun.

In London, the trial of the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin has begun.

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Author: Robert Strickland (crypto-journalist)
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In London, the trial of the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin has begun.

The trial of the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin, Craig Wright, has commenced in the High Court of London on February 5.


 

Australian scientist and entrepreneur Craig Wright has been claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto since 2016.

 

According to Reuters, the hearings in court will last for five weeks and revolve around the ownership rights of the early version of the Bitcoin code and the authorship of the white paper, which outlines the concept of the first cryptocurrency.

The litigation was initiated by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), an organization that includes the investment company Block, founded by Twitter's Jack Dorsey. Lawyers representing COPA have filed a lawsuit in the High Court of London, seeking to refute the claims made by Australian scientist and entrepreneur Craig Wright that he is the inventor of Bitcoin.

On the eve of the trial, COPA lawyer Jonathan Haf referred to Craig Wright's claims as "audacious lies." Haf added that "there are elements in Dr. Wright's behavior that border on farce," citing his alleged use of ChatGPT (a popular AI chatbot) to create forgeries, as reported by Reuters from Haf's court statement.

Craig Wright will begin giving evidence in court today, February 6. Wright's lawyer, Anthony Grabiner, refuted COPA's claims, stating that Wright had provided "clear evidence of his authorship of the white paper and the creation of Bitcoin." Grabiner added that it was "astonishing" that no one else had publicly claimed to be Satoshi (the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin). "If Dr. Wright were not Satoshi, it would have been expected that the real Satoshi would have already revealed himself to refute this claim," he said.

Craig Wright publicly claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto for the first time in 2016. Since then, he has filed lawsuits against cryptocurrency developers and exchanges worldwide. COPA believes that Wright has never provided credible evidence for his claims and accuses him of repeatedly falsifying documents to support his lawsuit, which Wright denies.

In 2020, Craig Wright promised to "destroy" Bitcoin, causing its value to plummet, after which he promised to carry out a so-called 51% attack on the asset's network. However, since then, the price of Bitcoin has increased by 500%, and the Bitcoin blockchain has been operating smoothly.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has repeatedly called Craig Wright a "disgrace to the crypto industry." According to Zhao, the Australian scientist could not be the real Satoshi Nakamoto because he is "not talented enough." The founder of the exchange emphasized that if Wright were truly the creator of Bitcoin, he could have proven it many times and in various ways.

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