Craig Wright Forced to Admit He’s Not Bitcoin Creator on Personal Website

Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who long claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, has been compelled to publicly admit he is not the cryptocurrency’s inventor. This admission comes in the form of a legal notice now prominently displayed on the homepage of his personal website, craigwright.net.

The notice, mandated by U.K. High Court Judge James Mellor, states unequivocally: “Dr Craig Steven Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto” and “Dr Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin white paper.” This declaration is part of a dissemination order granted by Judge Mellor in his final judgment of a case brought against Wright by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA).

The court order requires Wright to maintain this notice on his website for six months and post similar disclaimers on his Twitter/X account and Slack channels for three months. At the time of reporting, Wright had not yet updated his X account to reflect this mandate.

This development follows a March 2024 ruling where Judge Mellor determined that Wright was not the creator of Bitcoin, citing “overwhelming” evidence against his claims. In a subsequent written judgment, Mellor declared that Wright had “lied extensively and repeatedly” during the trial and had forged documents “on a grand scale” to support his false narrative.

The case, initiated by COPA in 2021, sought to prevent Wright from claiming copyright over the Bitcoin whitepaper and suing developers under the guise of being Bitcoin’s creator. COPA, backed by industry giants like Block’s Jack Dorsey and Coinbase, presented over 50 pieces of evidence dismantling Wright’s claims during the trial.

In a further blow to Wright, Judge Mellor has referred him and his colleague, nChain co-founder Stefan Matthews, to the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for consideration of perjury charges. The judge described Wright’s actions as a “most serious abuse” of the legal systems in the U.K., Norway, and the U.S.

The website craigwright.net, which previously contained numerous assertions of Wright’s claimed role in creating Bitcoin, has been stripped of all content except for the court-mandated notice. Archived snapshots reveal that the site once featured an altered copy of the Bitcoin white paper listing “Craig Steven Wright” as the author.