Craig Wright, the controversial figure who claims to be Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is cracking following the defeat of his landmark case as been handed a suspended prison sentence by a UK court.

Wright’s one-year sentence for contempt of court won’t see him behind bars unless he breaches court orders in the next two years. While the average person would make sure to comply, Wright's recent behavior has us wondering if he's capable of controlling himself long enough to stay free man. 

Over-Emotional, Irrational, and Digging his Hole Deeper...

Wright has seemingly become driven by emotion rather than calculated legal strategy, his recent  irrationality and impulsiveness seem to be a clear indication that the mounting legal defeats are taking their toll. 

First, immediately after the court dismissed his lawsuit, he filed another - a move seen as Wright blatantly disregarding the court’s previous orders.

But that was just the beginning as Wright then did something anyone in their right mind knows is always a bad idea, and will never help someone make their case - he skipped attending the hearing addressing his first violation. 

At first it seemed like Wright may have immediately realized his mistake and agreed to attending the rescheduled hearing. But hopes Wright was returning to reality soon faded as he joined the hearing via video link, demanding an insane £240,000 to attend, to cover his "costs and lost earnings". 

These actions painted a picture of someone incapable of maintaining composure in the face of legal setbacks.

The Claim That Won’t Die...

These most recent troubles were ignited when Wright attempted to sue a group of Bitcoin developers for £900 billion (around $1 TRILLION in USD), the most recent, but far from the first lawsuit Wright has attempted.

For years, Wright has insisted he is the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. This self-proclaimed identity has been central to his legal battles and public persona, yet it has consistently crumbled under scrutiny. 

The High Court in London dismissed his lawsuit, calling it baseless. In the wake of this ruling, an advocacy group made up of individuals and companies who want to protect Bitcoin's open source status, called the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) called for Wright to be held in contempt of court.  The grounds for this claim come from his ruling from the court explicitly barring him from filing new lawsuits that were based on his claim to be Nakamoto.

The UK Legal System Has Had ENOUGH...

Judge Mellor ripped into Wright, calling his tactics "malicious and manipulative". 

The court highlighted years of distress caused by Wright’s relentless legal threats against developers and bloggers, noting that his claims were founded on lies and forgeries. The judgment emphasized Wright’s attempts to mislead both the legal system and the public.

Wright’s unhinged behavior has earned him a one-year suspended sentence for contempt of court, along with orders to pay £145,000 (about $180,000 USD) within 2 weeks.

While he narrowly avoided prison thus far, he must follow court orders exactly as instructed for the next 2 years if he wants to stay out.

A Tarnished Legacy...

The crazy part is, Wright truly did contribute to the creation of Bitcoin.  He was among the small group of original developers who volunteered their time and skills to help whoever the real Satoshi is - Wright does deserve credit for helping to launch the first cryptocurrency.

Wright could have been a respected figure in the crypto and tech world with the true story of his role in Bitcoin's creation. Ironically, people who launch the most vicious attacks at Wright for being a fraud would probably be among his biggest fans.

This seems to be an example of a poor choice made years ago, perhaps made impulsively - mix this with a prideful person who struggles to admit when they're wrong, and you get this ridiculous never-ending spectacle.

Wright had to be aware of several obvious methods the real Satoshi could use to prove his identity, Wright knew he couldn't perform any of them, and that people would demand this of anyone making this claim. The most important being the ability to open the wallet belonging to Satoshi.

Surely the real Satoshi would carefully back up the private key needed to access his wallet, of which over $90 Billion USD worth of Bitcoin sits untouched for 14 years.

But during a case he filed in Norway, where Wright attempted to sue someone from the crypto community on Twitter for calling him a scammer, Wright claimed he could no longer access the Satoshi wallets since he 'stomped out' the hard drives they were saved on.  The man he was suing was a public school teacher with 8000 followers, Wright lost. 

Where Do We Go From Here?

It seems Wright has taken things so far, he's reached the point where having him face real, life changing consequences is the only response left.  Wright has proven his willingness to create a never ending cycle of baseless lawsuits that waste both government and private citizens funds addressing - failing to win a judgement in his favor has proven not to be a deterrent. 

Since Wright begun his crusade, only his worst traits have evolved.  What started with him at least portraying an image of someone making calculated legal moves, has been replaced with someone unable to control themselves long enough to consider the results of their increasingly impulsive actions.

I guess what I'm trying to say is - my money is on Craig going to jail! He needs to obey every demand of the court for 2 full years, and I just don't see his personality changing enough to pull it off. 

-------
Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

It's over for the infamous Craig Wright, one of Bitcoin's early developers who actually did work with Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, then in recent years begun to claim he was Satoshi himself.

 A ruling by a High Court judge in London on Monday (May 20) determined that the Australian computer scientist Craig Wright provided false testimony and fabricated documents to substantiate his unsubstantiated assertion of being the inventor of bitcoin.

Judge James Mellor, in a decision rendered in March and with reasons outlined on Monday as reported by Reuters, concluded that the evidence did not support Wright's claim to be the pseudonymous "Satoshi Nakamoto" behind bitcoin's creation. The judge found that Wright had been deceitful and had forged documentation to bolster his inventor claim, and that Wright's legal actions against bitcoin developers as well as his expressed views on bitcoin contradicted his purported status.

Developers Feel Relief Following Ruling...

Wright's legal attempt, had it succeeded, would have given him the right to sue anyone who built anything on Bitcoin's network, as he would become the copyright holder to Bitcoin's code.

In a blog post on Monday following the ruling, a Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) spokesperson said that the judgment "forensically demolishes Wright's fraudulent claims."

"This decision is a watershed moment for the open-source community and even more importantly, a definitive win for the truth," a COPA spokesperson said. "Developers can now continue their important work maintaining, iterating on and improving the bitcoin network without risking their personal livelihoods or fearing costly and time-consuming litigation from Craig Wright."

Wright Vows To Appeal...

On X (formerly Twitter), Wright stated on Monday: "I fully intend to appeal the decision of the court on the matter of the identity issue. I would like to acknowledge and thank all my supporters for their unwavering encouragement and support."

Wright first came forward with his claim to be bitcoin's creator in May 2016, making the assertion to three publications — the BBC, The Economist, and GQ — and sending digitally signed messages using cryptographic keys created during bitcoin's early development days.

"These are the blocks used to send 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney in January [2009] as the first bitcoin transaction," Wright stated at the time during his demonstration.

However, by December 2019, when a Florida judge ruled that Wright's late partner was entitled to half of the bitcoins Wright mined through 2013 and half of the related intellectual property, some crypto experts were skeptical of Wright's claims, viewing them as fraudulent.


-------
Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

On January 5th, just two days after Bitcoin's 15th anniversary, a mysterious transaction has the cryptocurrency community scratching their heads. Someone sent 27 Bitcoin (approximately $1.2 million) to the network's genesis address, the very first wallet ever created that mined the first block of Bitcoin's blockchain. This legendary wallet, once controlled by the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, has become a digital monument to the birth of Bitcoin.

The sender's history reveals only a single transaction: the withdrawal of 27 Bitcoin from the Binance exchange followed by their immediate transfer to Satoshi's dormant wallet. This gesture has sparked speculation and intrigue.

Some interpret it as a symbolic "tribute" to Bitcoin's origins, a fitting commemoration on the anniversary. The genesis wallet already holds 50 original mining rewards, hundreds of small transactions, and now, these 27 new Bitcoins, bringing its total value to nearly 100 BTC worth over $4.6 million.

Overall, there are dozens of wallet addresses created by Satoshi, and they hold over 1,100,000 Bitcoins worth almost $50 billion...

While 27 Bitcoin might be mere pocket change for the mythical Satoshi, for most others, it's a significant investment. 

"Either Satoshi woke up, bought 27 bitcoin from Binance, and deposited into their wallet, or someone just burned a million dollars," Coinbase director Conor Grogan said in an X post.

...or is there more behind it?

Flushing Out Satoshi?

One intriguing theory suggests this could be designed to force Satoshi out of hiding, by testing a new US law requiring all crypto transactions exceeding $10,000 to be reported to the IRS.

If Satoshi is a US citizen, even he would need to report the transfer.

Personally, I'm among a fairly large segment of the crypto world that believes Satoshi is long gone, and most likely passed away shortly after Bitcoin's launch.  

As with most Satoshi related stories, I'm not expecting to learn more than what we know now.

-------
Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

A look into Bitcoin's mysterious origins, leading up to the power struggles of today.

Part 2 can be seen here.

Video courtesy of Cold Fusion TV

There's a lot going on in the Satoahi Nakamoto cosplay world.

Yesterday, another surely mentally stable character stood up and claimed the title of bitcoin's creator - exciting because it's been awhile since we had some freshly baked Nakamoto! 

The big reveal began with 'teasers' starting a few weeks back, followed by 3 days of extra hype, ending with the name announcement...

It was none other than James Bilal Caan! Well, now it all makes sense!

Just kidding, I have no idea who he is either, but imagine our luck - he has something to promote!

"Satoshi Nakamoto Renaissance Holdings" is ready to provide 'industry-leading Blockchain products and services' which at first sounded extremely vague, then I thought... if anyone can do it all, it's Satoshi!

Before you go asking why a billionaire like Satoshi is now available to hire, you need to understand everyone makes mistakes, and on that note 'oops' - he lost the hard drive containing the keys needed to access the approximate 1 million BTC.

I really doubt we'll be hearing much from Caan in the future, by any standard this publicity stunt was a flop, it would be too sad to watch if they try to drag this on any longer.

To me, there is only ONE real fake Satoshi...

I don't even need to say the name - that's how official it is.

Imposers like Caan aren't even worth a second of his time, as he traveled around the world to meet some faithful believers in Colombia.

Check out this totally not-creepy video of the one and only, mingling with fans...


If at first you don't succeed, try a 3rd world country where about half the population doesn't have a high school education.

But seriously, here's what it comes down to...

I love this stuff, and god bless Craig, and even the new guy who's name I already forgot.  You can't put a price tag on entertainment like this.

But while some people make jokes, and other people argue the technical aspects of someone proving they're Satoshi, debating if Craig's best evidence is just forged backdated PGP keys, etc - I will forever be hung up on one simple factor...

How did Satoshi apparently go through the biggest personality transformation I've ever seen in a person?

Anyone can look back at the e-mails exchanged during Bitcoin's creation.  As the real Satoshi took on building such a complex system from scratch, which no doubt was full of frustrating moments - he remains calm, cool and collected.

There's so many examples of the real Satoshi's communications you can get a feel for how he conducts himself - he's never over-emotional, always rational,  not impulsive, or vulgar, or angry -even at high-stress moments most coders would be.

It's not surprising these unique traits created something equally unique.

So don't tell me it turns out this whole time he was really just another easily-triggered spotlight-loving attention whore, always ready to give a big "f*ck you" to anyone who disagrees with them.

I'll also add, to be fair - while i'm convinced Craig isn't Satoshi, he's also not a lot of the things his opponents say. Anyone saying Craig is 'stupid' or 'an idiot' is lying as well. 

Obnoxious? Yes. Stupid? No.

This isn't my first role in media, at one point I worked for the largest broadcasting company in the nation, I say this because I saw the same thing there, that we're seeing here.. often.

A dark side of human nature can drown out that voice inside saying 'you're taking it too far', suddenly a talented person who made real contributions to a project becomes overwhelmed with the desire to take full credit for it.

That's why, for me personally, until I see some transactions on the blockchain from a wallet belonging to the real Satoshi, i'll consider those claiming to be him 'for entertainment purposes only'.

Who do you believe is the real Satoshi? Do you hate that this is even being debated? Or, like me, do you appreciate the endless entertainment it's provided us?  Tweet us your thoughts @GlobalCryptoDev
-------
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk

US Crypto Traders - Claim Your $25 BTC...

CNBC did a decent short report on the search for Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, and looks at a few of the current suspects.