UK Court Freezes £6 Million in Assets of Craig Wright Over Bitcoin Creator Claim Dispute
BollywoodFever, March 30: A UK court has ordered a freeze on £6 million ($7.6 million) of Craig Wright’s assets to prevent him from avoiding court costs related to his claim of being Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
The court’s action follows Wright’s asset transfer activities, specifically moving shares from his London-based company, RCJBR Holding, to a Singaporean firm on March 18, after a legal ruling refuted his claim to the identity of Nakamoto.
Judge James Mellor highlighted in the court document that Wright’s actions raised significant concerns for the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) regarding his intentions to sidestep the repercussions of his trial loss.
As a result, Mellor approved COPA’s request for a ‘worldwide freezing order’ to secure the coverage of COPA’s legal expenses, which total $8,471,225 (£6,703,747.91).
Established in 2020, COPA aims to promote the growth and innovation of cryptocurrency technologies by eliminating patents as obstacles.
Its membership includes 33 entities such as Coinbase, Block, Meta, MicroStrategy, Kraken, Paradigm, Uniswap, and Worldcoin.
Wright, an Australian computer scientist, has made several copyright claims tied to his alleged identity as Satoshi Nakamoto. In one instance, in January 2021, he instructed two websites to remove the Bitcoin white paper.
COPA initiated legal proceedings against Wright in April 2021, disputing his claims to the copyright of Bitcoin by asserting he is Satoshi Nakamoto.
The court, bolstered by testimonies from early Bitcoin developers like Martti Malmi, ruled on March 14 of this year, overwhelmingly indicating Wright is not Nakamoto.
Furthermore, Wright has pursued legal action against 13 Bitcoin Core developers and companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block, in 2023 for alleged copyright infringements related to the Bitcoin white paper, its file format, and the Bitcoin blockchain database rights.
The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund has intervened, pointing out the pattern of Wright’s litigious behavior that threatens the advancement of Bitcoin by imposing burdens of time, stress, financial strain, and legal jeopardy on key contributors.
Wright had previously registered the copyright for the Bitcoin white paper and its code in the United States in 2019.
Under an MIT open-source license, the Bitcoin white paper’s code is freely available for use and modification for any purpose, aiming to safeguard against further copyright claims by Wright.
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