By Maria Ward-Brennan
The self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin is set to appear at the High Court today as a trial gets underway to decide if he really is the creator of the first-ever cryptocurrency.
Australian computer scientist Dr Craig Wright has long claimed to be behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the name used by the person who created Bitcoin.
The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit set up to keep cryptocurrency technology free from patents, is suing Wright over his claim that he is the creator. The alliance seeks to prove that he is not the author of a key document, known as the Bitcoin White Paper, and as a result, is not the person known as Satoshi Nakamoto.
Wright is also suing 26 blockchain developers, comprising of both companies and individuals, including cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Wright brought the legal action seeking recognition of alleged copyrights over the Bitcoin white paper and database rights over the entire Bitcoin blockchain.
The court has decided that the identity issue in both of these cases should be tried together.
The trial, which will be closely watched by many in the crypto space, is due to run until March.
Wright, who resides in the UK, is no stranger to the court, after appearing several times over the years for Bitcoin-related reasons.
Back in August 2022, the High Court awarded him just £1 in damages after the academic secured victory in a libel lawsuit against Youtuber Peter McCormack.
He is also involved in litigation with a business he owns, Tulip Trading, a Seychelles-based company, after it sued the Bitcoin Association and 15 developers for $4.5bn back in 2021. He, via his business, claimed his computer in his Surrey home was hacked and resulted in him being unable to access a substantial amount of digital currency assets, which Tulip Trading claims to own.
