The High Court has heard that an Australian computer scientist’s claim to be the author of Bitcoin’s founding documents is a “blatant lie”. Craig Wright, a 53-year-old who claims to be the pseudonymous author Satoshi Nakamoto, is being sued by a group of cryptocurrency exchanges and developers, with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Crypto Patent Alliance (Copa) seeking a “negative declaration” that Wright is not Nakamoto.
The President of Copa, Jonathan Hough KC, told the High Court that Wright’s claims were “a brazen lie and an elaborate false narrative backed by industrial-scale fabrications.” Hough also mentioned that elements of Wright’s conduct, including his alleged use of ChatGPT to create fabrications to support his claims, were reminiscent of a “farce”. These claims, according to Hough, have “deadly serious” consequences for individuals who faced litigation based on Wright’s claims. He stated, “Dr. Wright has consistently failed to provide genuine evidence that he is Satoshi. Instead, he has repeatedly presented documents that clearly show signs of falsification.”
Both experts agreed that the original white paper was written in OpenOffice software, while the version Wright provided was created using software called LaTeX. Additionally, Wright’s claims to be Satoshi are met with widespread skepticism within the crypto community. Mr Wright’s barrister, Lord Grabiner KC, stated that he published the white paper after “spending many years researching and researching the concepts underlying Bitcoin” and has a “rare combination of interdisciplinary talent” and extensive experience in the field, which Nakamoto has “uniquely brought together” in the white paper.
The trial before Judge Mellor is scheduled to begin with Wright testifying on Tuesday and is expected to conclude next month with a written judgment expected at a later date.
Source: www.theguardian.com
