Craig Wright Ordered to Pay Over $1 Million After Accepting New Evidence on Crypto’s Satoshi Identity

Crypto Legal Battle Over Satoshi Nakamoto’s Identity

A British judge has recently rescheduled the trial between Craig Wright and Bitcoin Core developers to Feb. 5, as the legal battle over Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity and Bitcoin rights continues. In 2016, Wright, who claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin (BTC), sued 13 Bitcoin Core developers and a group of companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block, alleging copyright violations of Bitcoin’s white paper, Bitcoin file format, and Bitcoin blockchain database. The group is represented by the non-profit Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA).

During a pre-trial review on Dec. 15, Justice Edward James Mellor allowed Wright to submit an additional 97 documents that were allegedly found in two USB drives discovered in a drawer at his house in September. These documents included LaTex files, which is a popular open-source document preparation system used to draft the Bitcoin white paper.

The Bitcoin developers have accused Wright of fabricating evidence, manipulating metadata, and prolonging the proceedings. They claim that the new documents only came to light after they filed 50 pieces of evidence to disprove Wright’s previously filed materials.

Cryptocurrency Crypto and Legal Matters

Justice Mellor granted the developers a second security application, ordering Wright to pay an additional 800,000 pounds (~$1 million) by Jan. 5 to cover the developers’ legal costs in case of a trial loss. Wright had already deposited 100,000 pounds ($127,000) as a security payment.

Furthermore, the judge ordered Wright to pay 65,000 pounds ($82,000) to cover COPA’s costs for expert evidence related to his Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Wright had argued he has a disability due to ASD and had produced a report outlining adjustments needed for him in the trial, including a list of all cross-examination questions. Cross-examination is when the opposing party asks questions to clarify or discredit a witness’ testimony.

Wright’s request was challenged by the developers, who hired an expert to support their claims. As a result, Wright will only be able to access LiveNote Screen and write questions on paper during the trial.

The Bitcoin code is open-sourced and freely distributed under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology license, allowing users to reuse it for any purpose, including proprietary applications. Wright has contended that Bitcoin Core developers constitute a “Crypto Partnership”, which is alleged to control Bitcoin.