Craig Wright, widely known for claiming to be Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) British High Court Judge James Mellor for possible perjury charges following a lawsuit by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). The referral to CPS came after Mellor ruled in May that Wright was not the pseudonymous crypto founder. In a statement following the ruling, Wright expressed his intent to appeal the decision and thanked his supporters for their encouragement. The legal saga began when COPA sued Wright in 2021 for his claims of being the Bitcoin founder, which Mellor described as a serious abuse of the court process.
Mellor criticized Wright for his false claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, stating that Wright had committed extensive perjury in court proceedings across the U.K., Norway, and the U.S.A. The ruling discredited Wright’s alleged authorship of Bitcoin and accused him of creating a false narrative using forged documents. As a result, Wright will have to include a disclaimer on his website informing the public that he is not the true creator of the Bitcoin White Paper. The court’s decision marks a significant win for developers and the open-source community, according to COPA, as it exposes Wright’s long-standing lie about his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto.
Despite the court order, Wright had not posted the required disclaimer on his X account at the time of publication. COPA hailed the ruling as the end of Wright’s bullying and intimidation of developers in the Bitcoin community by falsely claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto for over eight years. The judgment by Mellor effectively ends Wright’s credibility as the Bitcoin founder and underscores the importance of truth in the cryptocurrency space. The legal proceedings highlight the consequences of making false claims in the cryptocurrency industry and serve as a cautionary tale for others who may attempt to deceive the public for personal gain. The court’s decision sets a precedent for maintaining integrity and transparency within the crypto community.
