Craig Wright – From False claims to lawsuits
Where do you start with a story like Craig Wright’s? The Australian entrepreneur has had a great deal of time in the limelight, but that’s both a good and a bad thing as he’s discovered this year. From masquerading as the founder of Bitcoin back in 2016 to facing the barrel end of a lawsuit from his former business partner.
The career of Craig Wright is distinct, even more so with a possible crash down to earth depending on the verdict.
The man who would be Satoshi
Famed writer of the white paper for Bitcoin back in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto has been veiled in mystery since his name was typed onto the plans that became the juggernaut we know and [sometimes] use. Since then, plenty of people have tried to claim it as their identity, and truth be told, who wouldn’t?
With the ongoing increases to Bitcoin’s value this year, Quartz reported in October 2017, that with the cost increasing past 6,000: that would make Nakamoto the 247th richest person in the world, with a wealth of 5.7 billion behind him.
A year before then, in 2016, a man named Craig Wright would enter the public eye as one of the people ‘outing’ themselves as the illustrious Satoshi Nakamoto. In an interview with the BBC in May 2016, Wright stated that he was, in fact, the man himself.
The challenge is whether or not the evidence he provided demonstrably proves that he is, in fact, Nakamoto. Problem is that there was only ever credible ‘private’ evidence given, with little more than an insipid [now deleted] blog post.
So where does this play into the lawsuit? Well, that’s the interesting question.
The $5-10 Billion question – Lawsuit
While not the best way to find out someone’s true identity, allegations levied against Wright would see this private evidence spill into the public domain in a messy, if highly expensive trial between the two parties.
Starting off as a lawsuit has now escalated to serious allegations of multiple levels of fraud that Craig Wright attempted against his former business partner: Dave Kleiman. Kleiman, who died in 2013, is represented by his brother, Ira and had originally filed the suit over who retains the rights to cryptocurrencies costing a staggering total of $5,118,266,427.50.
Allegations against Wright get increasingly interesting when the logic behind Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto is placed in line with evidence against his claim to the billions of Cryptocurrency. According to CNBC, Wright had fraudulently put Kleiman’s name to contracts he created to retroactively lay claim to the money.
These claims have genuinely heated up the stakes between the two parties. And with the suit being filed only last month, only time will tell whether the man who would be Satoshi will be proven innocent or guilty.
Thrown Away the Locke 