Is Craig Wright Satoshi Nakamoto?

Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin is the world’s most elusive billionaire. Very few people outside of the Department of Homeland Security know Satoshi’s real name. In fact, even the DHS doesn’t confirm that they know Satoshi’s identity. The Bitcoin creator has taken great care to keep his identity secret, employing the latest encryption and obfuscation methods in his communications.

Craig Wright’s story

In 2009, someone used the alias Satoshi Nakamoto and published a white paper entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” on a cryptography mailing list, and a little over two months later the Bitcoin network was launched. Recently, an Australian computer scientist named Craig Wright claimed that he was the man behind Bitcoin; that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. Many in the cryptosphere reject his claims but in this article we’ll debate. Is he, or isn’t he?

Wright’s story of being the Bitcoin creator is far from simple. In the Spring of 2016, Wright publicly came out as Satoshi and refused to provide definitive proof citing the fact that he doesn’t feel strong enough for handling this. Shortly after Wright’s stunt, the crypto community labeled him a scammer and he earned the name Faketoshi. Wright has always refused to directly answer whether he is Satoshi and claims to have surpassed Thomas Edison in innovation.

In most interviews, Wright gets past the question saying that it shouldn’t matter. Wright’s controversial claim of being Satoshi has earned him a reputation and he hasn’t spoken on the matter in the past three years. Wright said in an interview, “I’m not going to say yea or nay [as to whether I’m Satoshi]. Or do anything else. I’m not retracting anything, because I don’t think it should matter.”

Kleiman vs. Wright

Wright is being sued by Ira Kleiman, on behalf of the estate of his late brother Dave Kleiman for scheming to, according to the filing, “seize Dave’s bitcoins and his rights to the intellectual property associated with the bitcoin technology.” The lawsuit is centered on a 1.1 Million Bitcoin Tulip Trust which, Kleiman alleges, is comprised of coins collectively mined by his brother with Wright. The nChain chief scientist denies this claim.

Wright claimed that he had mined the entire lot between 2009 and 2011. Wright has also claimed that Kleiman’s involvement in the fund was limited to securing the holding using an algorithm. He mentioned that the Tulip Trust is now inaccessible and this controversy has reduced Wright to Faketoshi on Crypto Twitter.

Examining Wright’s Claim of losing access to $10 Billion in Bitcoin

Wright has been allegedly making efforts to provide a full inventory of his Bitcoin addresses and employed CTO of nChain, Steve Shadders to develop software to dig for possible addresses. However, the funds continue to remain elusive. It is hard to believe that Craig could lose access to $10 Billion in Bitcoin. Kleiman’s representative at Boies Schiller Flexner, Velvel Freedman continued his cross-examination of Wright’s claims and found discrepancies in “create” dates and “modify” dates of several emails. Freedman brought up an email allegedly sent to Wright from Kleiman in 2011, which elaborated on the creation of the Tulip Trust at the heart of the case.

When pressed, Wright claimed that the document came from corrupted servers of a company that was being forced into liquidation at the time. Freedman then pointed out the email was sent via Craig@panopticrypt on PCCSW01 – CSW being Wright’s initials. And Wright denied having access to his email address and computer at that time. Wright has repeatedly pleaded that decryption is beyond his control. Wright has been seemingly deflecting ownership of Bitcoin that is part of his holdings. He accused the defense of confusing Bitcoin held in Tulip Trust with Bitcoin held in Liberty Reserve, a defunct cryptocurrency exchange.

He later claimed that over half a Million Bitcoin were unaccounted for because they were legally represented by a company called Wright International Investments through a convoluted ownership structure. However, it was later proven that Wright held the sole ownership of this company previously.

Wright has not been able to support his claims of being Satoshi at any point since the hearing started. Wright’s increasing hostility towards Vitalik Buterin and John McAfee further supports the fact that he may have been associated with the creation of Bitcoin, but he is not the creator of Bitcoin.

What are your thoughts? Is Craig Wright the man behind Satoshi or Faketoshi? We’d like to know.