Fake Satoshi Nakamoto Sentenced To One Year Over Legal Claim

Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who repeatedly and falsely claimed to be Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for contempt of court, with the sentence suspended for two years.

The ruling stems from a £900 billion intellectual property claim Wright launched, which triggered the contempt proceedings, according to The Independent. Wright reportedly appeared via video link during the hearing but declined to disclose his physical location. He also announced plans to appeal the ruling, The Guardian reported.

This sentencing follows a March 2024 ruling by a UK court, which declared that Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto. The case was brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) in an effort to prevent Wright from claiming copyright over the Bitcoin whitepaper and database.

Key witnesses during the trial included Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back, who testified about Bitcoin’s early development and proof-of-work system.

Wright’s assertions about being Nakamoto have long been a point of controversy in the crypto community. If Nakamoto’s identity were ever conclusively proven, it could have massive implications, as the pseudonymous creator is believed to control up to 1.1 million Bitcoin, now worth over $106 billion after recent price surges.

Earlier this year, Craig Wright issued a legal disclaimer on the home page of his website, stating that he is not the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

The disclaimer cited the recent ruling from the United Kingdom High Court of Justice and directed website traffic to the summary of the findings presented by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA).

The bulk of the disclaimer was the admissions that Wright was not the author of the Bitcoin white paper and that he does not hold a copyright to the technology outlined in the white paper.

Wright’s assets were frozen by the United Kingdom’s High Court to help podcaster Peter McCormack recoup $2 million in legal fees spent in defense against a defamation lawsuit filed by Wright in 2019.

During the trial, COPA called on forensic experts and onchain analysts to testify that Wright had produced a trove of elaborate forgeries and metadata that showed signs of tampering.