In a landmark decision by a UK court, £6 million ($7.6 million) of Craig Wright‘s assets have been frozen to ensure he can’t avoid paying legal costs from a lawsuit where he claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s founder.
This ruling followed revelations that Wright had transferred assets outside of the UK after a court had previously dismissed his claim to be Nakamoto.
Specifically, Wright shifted shares from his London-based company, RCJBR Holding, to a Singaporean firm on March 18, leading to heightened concerns over his intentions.
Judge James Mellor, addressing these actions, stated, “Understandably, that gave rise to serious concerns on COPA’s part that Dr. Wright was implementing measures to seek to evade the costs and consequences of his loss at trial.”
The judge’s decision to impose a ‘worldwide freezing order’ was in response to a request from the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) to cover their legal expenses totaling $8,471,225 (£6,703,747.91).
COPA, established in 2020, aims to foster cryptocurrency technology adoption and eliminate patents as a growth barrier.
Its membership includes notable entities such as Coinbase, Block, Meta, MicroStrategy, and others.
Wright, an Australian computer scientist, has been involved in copyright claims linked to the Bitcoin network, leveraging his alleged identity as Nakamoto.
In January 2021, he even demanded the removal of the Bitcoin white paper from two websites.
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COPA countered Wright’s claims by filing a lawsuit in April 2021, arguing against his claims to the Bitcoin copyright.
The case saw contributions from early Bitcoin developers, leading to a March 14 verdict this year that strongly indicated Wright was not the true Nakamoto.
Wright’s contentious stance towards Bitcoin extended to suing 13 Bitcoin Core developers and several companies over copyright infringements in 2023.
The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund opposed these actions, noting the detrimental impact of such lawsuits on the development of Bitcoin due to the stress and financial burden they impose.
Wright’s actions, including a 2019 copyright registration for the Bitcoin white paper and code in the US, faced significant backlash.
However, the Bitcoin white paper remains under an MIT open-source license, allowing free modification and reuse, safeguarding it from further copyright claims by Wright.
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