British Court Freezes Crypto Claims as Wright's Bitcoin Identity Unravels

A UK court has imposed a freezing order on £6 million ($7.6 million) of Craig Wright's assets, preventing him from evading court expenses stemming from his false claim to be the creator of Bitcoin. The order was granted due to Wright's transfer of assets outside the UK following a court ruling debunking his claim as Satoshi Nakamoto. This prompted concerns that Wright was attempting to avoid paying the $8.47 million in expenses incurred by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) in their lawsuit against him.

British Court Freezes Craig Wright's Assets to Prevent Bitcoin Identity Evasion

In a landmark decision, a United Kingdom court has frozen £6 million ($7.6 million) in assets belonging to Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin (BTC). The move aims to prevent Wright from evading court expenses stemming from a legal battle over his disputed identity as Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous founder of the cryptocurrency.

The court's ruling came after Wright transferred a portion of his assets outside the U.K. following a court verdict that refuted his claim to be Nakamoto. According to court documents, Wright moved shares of his London firm, RCJBR Holding, to a Singaporean entity on March 18. This prompted concerns among the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which initiated legal proceedings against Wright for falsely claiming ownership of Bitcoin's copyright.

"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," wrote Judge James Mellor in the court document.

The court granted COPA's request for a worldwide freezing order, effectively immobilizing Wright's assets globally. The order seeks to cover COPA's total court expenses of $8,471,225 (£6,703,747.91).

COPA, founded in 2020, aims to promote the adoption and advancement of cryptocurrency technologies by eliminating patents as barriers to innovation. Its members include leading crypto companies such as Coinbase, Block, Meta, MicroStrategy, Kraken, Paradigm, Uniswap, and Worldcoin.

Wright, an Australian computer scientist, has repeatedly claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, leveraging this assertion to stake copyright claims over the Bitcoin network. For instance, in January 2021, he demanded that two websites remove the Bitcoin white paper.

In April 2021, COPA initiated legal proceedings against Wright, disputing his claims to be Nakamoto and consequently his possession of Bitcoin's copyright. After hearing testimonies from early Bitcoin developers, including Martti Malmi, the court concluded on March 14, 2023, that the evidence overwhelmingly contradicted Wright's assertions.

Despite the court's ruling, Wright filed lawsuits in 2023 against 13 Bitcoin Core developers and companies, including Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block, alleging copyright infringement relating to the Bitcoin white paper, its file format, and database rights to the Bitcoin blockchain.

The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund responded to Wright's lawsuits, highlighting the growing trend of abusive legal actions against prominent Bitcoin contributors. Such lawsuits, the fund argues, deter development due to the associated time, stress, expenses, and legal risks.

Wright had previously filed a United States copyright registration for the Bitcoin white paper and its code in 2019. However, the white paper is now subject to an MIT open-source license, allowing anyone to reuse and modify the code for any purpose. A court injunction would prevent Wright from making further copyright claims on the white paper.