Bitcoin Bluff: Australian Man who Claimed he Invented Bitcoin is Found in Contempt of Court

July 23, 2025

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As reported by AP News, an Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be the founder of bitcoin has been found to be in contempt of London’s High Court and given a suspended sentence of 12 months in prison.

Starting in 2016, Craig Wright claimed to be the man behind the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto persona, who mysteriously invented the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency and released it to the world by publishing the Bitcoin White Paper in 2008.

Despite consistent claims that he is Nakamoto, Wright has not been able to provide any evidence to support this assertion. Last March, the High Court ruled that Wright was not Satoshi, and ordered him to stop claiming that he was.

Wright continued asserting his intellectual property rights to Bitcoin and claimed that he was owed $1.2 trillion. In the High Court, Justice James Mellor held that Wright had committed a “clear breach” of the March order, and that it was “beyond any reasonable doubt” that Wright had been in contempt of court.

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Authors: Emily Groper and Annie MacKinnon