CRAIG WRIGHT
Wright has been on trial this week at London’s High Court, with proceedings expected to last until mid-March.
The enigmatic Australian programmer describes himself on X as “Creator of Bitcoin” and insists he has the required skills and knowledge to have invented it.
Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organisation set up to keep cryptocurrency technology free from patents, is suing Wright over his claims first made in 2016.
COPA accuses Wright, nicknamed ‘Faketoshi’ by detractors, of lying about his identity and of forging and manipulating documents.
Wright has been involved in a number of lawsuits brought by himself, but this time around is being asked to defend himself.
ELON MUSK
The richest man in the world has also been in the frame, after a former intern at his SpaceX company wrote a series of articles speculating that Satoshi was in fact Musk.
The ex-intern, writing on Medium’s website, claimed the billionaire uses similar language and expressions to those given by Satoshi, adding that a close colleague of Musk seemed too embarrassed to discuss it.
However, tech-savvy Musk rejected the allegations in late 2017 in the face of such meagre evidence.
UNCERTAINTY PREVAILS
Despite feverish speculation, uncertainty reigns supreme.
Some commentators argue that a work of such scope and complexity as Bitcoin could only be the work of a group of people, rather than a single developer.
Others say that it is highly likely the real Satoshi Nakamoto is either dead – or wishes to preserve the integrity of Bitcoin’s collective ethos by maintaining his own anonymity.
Satoshi Nakamoto meanwhile still possesses about 980,000 bitcoins, according to industry researcher Sergio Lerner.
If the Bitcoin king is alive and decides to cash in, that could potentially crash the cryptocurrency because they are together worth about US$44 billion at current prices.
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