News

Australian computer scientist and one-time Satoshi Nakamoto claimant Craig Wright has been forced to update the homepage of his personal website with a legal notice declaring that he is not the inventor of Bitcoin.

The notice – which must be displayed on Wright’s website for six months – declares that Wright lied “extensively and repeatedly” in court proceedings where he claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, and “attempted to create a false narrative by forging documents ‘on a grand scale’.” Wright’s web of lies, spun through “multiple legal actions” constitute a “most serious abuse” of the legal systems in the U.K., Norway, and the U.S., the declaration reads. It also links visitors to the full judgment against Wright, and “its appendix detailing various forged documents created by Dr. Wright.”

The notice is part of a dissemination order granted by the U.K. judge, Justice James Mellor, overseeing the case brought against Wright by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organization representing Bitcoin developers.

COPA, which is funded by crypto industry heavyweights like Block’s Jack Dorsey and Coinbase as well as organizations like the Human Rights Watch, sued Wright in 2021 to get a once-and-for-all ruling that he is not Nakamoto to prevent him claiming copyright of the Bitcoin whitepaper and from suing his critics and developers alike under the guise that he created Bitcoin.

Earlier this year, Mellor ruled that Wright was not the creator of Bitcoin. In a written judgment that followed two months later, he declared that Wright had lied throughout the trial and forged evidence.

On Tuesday, Mellor issued a final judgment in the case referring Wright – as well as his colleague and go-to character witness, nChain co-founder Stefan Matthews, to U.K. prosecutors, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to be considered for perjury charges.

The dissemination order granted by Mellor was part of his final judgment. Wright was also ordered to post a similar notice on his Twitter/X account and on the Slack channels where he communicates with his supporters.

When Wright posted the notice to his Twitter/X account, he also tweeted out a link to his personal website, adding "This is a requirement until I appeal the decision."

In Mellor’s final judgment, he said that Wright has made “no application for permission to appeal” despite what he has said on social media.

UPDATE (July 22, 2024 at 15:13 UTC): Adds in that Wright tweeted the statement from his personal Twitter/X account along with an updated notice of his intent to appeal Mellor's decision.