Is Craig Wright The Real Man Behind The Bitcoin Invention?

The anonymity of Bitcoin is not hidden from anyone. Everyone knows the creator of Bitcoin, but none of them know about his/her/their existence. Satoshi Nakamoto is the real identity behind the creation of Bitcoin in 2009. Satoshi is the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper and also the creator of the first blockchain database on which bitcoin was deployed.

Nakamoto was responsible for creating a finite supply of bitcoin, dividing them into a blockchain community, and releasing the whitepaper. After performing all of these tasks, this identity just vanished without leaving any hint of himself. It is also believed that Nakamoto holds $9bn of the digital currencies.

Taking advantage of this anonymity, many people came to prove themselves as Satoshi Nakamoto. One among these contenders is Craig Wright!!

Now you might be wondering who is he and how can he even be the creator of Bitcoin.  Let’s delve into exploring the history of Craig Wright…

Who Is Craig Wright?

Craig Steven Wright is an Australian Computer Scientist and businessman. He is the one who claims himself to be the creator Bitcoin. Wired Magazine and tech news site Gizmodo were the first publications to publish an article claiming Wright is the real Satoshi Nakamoto. Instead of denying these claims Craig admitted his involvment in Bitcoin creation with his friend Dave Kleiman, who was a deceased computer expert.

Craig Wright As Satoshi Nakamoto

As per the publications, the master mind, Wright, used the same email address as Nakamoto for correspondence. Simultaneously, Gizmodo also published emails from Wright influencing for regulatory acceptance of bitcoin to political figures and government agencies. 

In the emails he wrote, “Would our Japanese friend have weight coming out of retirement or not?”. Along with this, Wright also published an article announcing the launch of Bitcoin on January 10, 2009. This article titled “The Beta of Bitcoin is Live Tomorrow” disappeared since then. 

As another proof, in a conversation with the tax lawyers, Wright also claimed that he was running Bitcoin since 2009. Tulip Trading is a company which he owns, through which it is said that he controls the 1.1 million bitcoins held by Nakamoto. The Wired publication stated that according to a trust fund PDF signed by the late Dave Kleiman these Bitcoins are not moveable until 2020. 

Some of the cryptography experts suggest two solutions to back up his claim of being Satoshi Nakamoto. Either he could conduct a transaction using Bitcoins through Nakamoto’s private key. Or, he can cryptographically sign a message using the same set of keys. 

Taking this claim to the next level, Wright filed registrations with the U.S. copyright office to support his claims of authorship over the original bitcoin code and Satoshi white paper.

According to the sources, these registrations “don’t provide any real evidence of bitcoin authorship, since — as numerous commentators have pointed out — it’s highly unlikely that the Copyright Office required proof that Wright is ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ prior to registering the claim.”

What if Craig Wright Will be Proved As The Real Satoshi Nakamoto? 

If these registrations get a positive response, then there will be serious implications on the future of Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin price. Also, some believe that if U.S. government recognizes Wright as the creator of Bitcoin, then the price of Bitcoin SV will drastically rise or fall. The recent rise and fall in the Bitcoin price may also be because of the attention created by Craig in the media. 

Raman Ferraz, the CEO of banking startup 2gether has a different point of view on this concept,

“The move in BTC over the past few days has nothing to do with Craig Wright’s copyright of Satoshi’s Whitepaper. Anyone can file for copyright, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are the authors of the paper. Secondly, concerning his manifesto, it is more likely that Bitcoin SV disappears than Bitcoin. Lastly, there are more illegal trades made in USD than in all of crypto combined.”

Wright Intends Buterin for defamation

Wright sued Vitalik Buterin in the UK for defamation. He calls Vitalik Buterin to be the provocateur who created another popular digital currency called Ether. In this cryptocurrency world, Craig Wright is a supervillain for some, while Buterin’s rant is applauded by a huge crowd of people at the conference. This whole thing lasted for a span of 90 seconds. The crowd there recorded an amusing YouTube video which sparked tweets mocking Craig Wright.

A week later, Wright also filed a lawsuit against Peter McCormack for similar claims, seeking £100,000 in damages. On May 2, Wright’s lawyers served Roger Ver at a cryptocurrency meet up in London. But, Ver mailed that he will defend himself in the court. Although Buterin and McCormack did not respond to comments, all of the three have posted messages calling Wright a fraud. 

Expert Views On The Real Satoshi Nakamoto

Cryptocurrency experts are not sure who is the creator of the world’s most valuable form of digital money. But the threat of costly lawsuits does not deter anyone from speaking their mind. John McAfee is a great example. He says he knows who the real Satoshi Nakamoto is and it is definitely not Mr. Wright. McAfee said, 

“I am going to tell the truth no matter what the consequences are. I’ve been sued over 200 times in my life. I am not afraid of getting sued.” 

Responding to which Wright called McAfee a “McScammer” and asked him to resolve their dispute in the court. 

Jon Matonis, who is the founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation, wrote in a blog post saying, 

“The proof is conclusive, and I have no doubt that Craig Steven Wright is the person behind the bitcoin technology”.

Another expert Peter Todd, a key bitcoin developer, told Vice’s Motherboard,

“It would be like if I was trying to prove that I was George Washington and to do that, provided a photocopy of the Constitution and said, look, I have George Washington’s signature.”

Bitcoin SV Delisted

In addition to all this, Wright’s rigorous campaigns have also affected his business interests. Wright intends to push a new currency, Bitcoin SV. Wright’s lawsuits received a harsh disapproval from Changpeng Zhao, the head of the top cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. Owing to Craig’s claims, Zhao said he was against fraud and then delisted BitcoinSV.  

The price of Bitcoin SV during the delisting gradually decreased to a value of $52. Well, the currency is again back on track and is performing consistently at the value of $200. Hence, the cryptocurrency proved it has a long way to go to create a bright future in the crypto industry.

Summing It Up

Currently Bitcoin is relatively stable. Additionally, more and more use cases are popping the enterprise industry. It will definitely be interesting to what will be the result of Wright’s registrations. The best way is that the crypto industry should focus on bringing cryptocurrency to light instead of focusing on the unnecessary arguments.

What do you think? What will the U.S. Government decide on the registrations? Share your thoughts on our Twitter and Facebook pages.