Revealed in court: an Australian computer scientist is the man behind the creation of Bitcoin

In an American court, it has been revealed that the secretive creator of Bitcoin, is in fact Craig Wright, who is the real identity behind the name “Satoshi Nakamoto”. Wright had been in court, in a civil trial against the family of a deceased business partner, who it is claimed, owed half of a cryptocurrency fortune, worth tens of billions of dollars. The Florida jury found that Wright did not owe 1.1m Bitcoin to the family of David Kleiman, his late business partner, but the jury awarded both men an award of $100m USD in intellectual rights to a joint venture between the two men, which was a fraction of what the Kleiman family had wanted from the trial.

Craig Wright and David Kleiman had been close friends and co-created Bitcoin through a joint partnership. However, Kleiman had died aged 46 in 2013 at a time when the cryptocurrency had only been around since it’s creation in 2009. At the time of Kleiman’s death the value of Bitcoin was around $13 to $1,000 USD each. A tiny sum, compared to todays value, currently trading at $48,750.

At the heart of the Florida trial, was the ownership of 1.1m Bitcoins, worth over $50bn. These were some of the first coins to be mined by the duo and could only be owned by an individual or entity who was involved with digital currency from the beginning, as is the case of the Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Once Craig Wright revealed in court that he was the inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency world are now eager to see if Wright is indeed the elusive ‘Japanese’ creator and are now waiting for Wright to prove his claim that he is the owner of the Bitcoin and that he mined them with Kleiman. Back in 2016 Wright had stated that he was Nakamoto, but was not taken seriously.

Throughout the fact dependant trial, the jury was given an in-depth explanation into the intricacies of cryptocurrencies as well as an insight into how the two partners had come up with the idea for Bitcoin. During the week long trial, it was revealed how the digital currency worked and how the two partners worked together.

The exact origins of Bitcoin had always remained a mystery and as a result, the subject matter of the trial was of interest far beyond the courtroom and into the very heart of the cryptocurrency community. Who was Satoshi Nakamoto?

While the world was facing the financial crisis in 2008, a paper had been written by a person, or group, calling themselves, “Satoshi Nakamoto” and the paper laid out the framework for a digital currency, that was not tied in any way with a sovereign authority or any legal system. The mining of this currency was stated a few months later and involved solving mathematical equations.

Wright and Kleiman had cleverly penned the name “Nakamoto”, meaning ‘at the centre of’ in Japanese, as the creator of Bitcoin, and thus distancing him and Kleiman as the real creators of the currency. The mystique around the Bitcoin origins and it’s Japanese creator gave the creation of Bitcoin gravitas.

The cryptocurrency community had always treated Wright’s claim that he was Nakamoto with a great deal of scepticism. However, the fact that the initial 1.1m Bitcoins mined by Natamoto (or Wright) has remained untouched since their creation and therefore giving credence to Wright’s claim that he mined them with Kleiman. The Bitcoin community has repeatedly called upon Wright to prove his ownership of the 1.1m Bitcoins, by moving a small fraction of them to prove he has control of the the coins and move them to a separate account and to prove ownership of them and also to prove he is as wealthy has he claims and worth at least $25bn USD.

Other cryptocurrency currency experts were brought into to testify that Wright was the owner of the coins.

At the trial, the jury awarded Wright and the Kleiman family $100m USD in intellectual right to the company, that was set up to provide software that set up the process for early blockchain and the technology to mine the currency.

We now wait to find out whether Wright is true to his word and he can prove his has financial control of his 1.1bn Bitcoins by moving just a few Bitcoins to a new account. We’re waiting Craig, you only need to move a few coins, just a couple, just to prove you are really Satoshi Nakamoto.