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Lawsuit ruling reveals Bitcoin founder 'Satoshi Nakamoto' was actually Craig Wright

Gather around for a story about how Satoshi Nakamoto turned out to be a dude named 'Craig.'

Ozzie Mejia

December 7, 2021 11:20 AM

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In one of the wilder stories of the week, it now appears that Bitcoin was created by a guy named "Craig." At least that's what a Miami court case has officially ruled. On Monday, a Miami court ruled in favor of an Australian gentleman named Craig Wright, who has claimed that he is actually Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin.

In a truly bizarre case, this saga began in 2016, when Wright first claimed that he was the originator of Bitcoin, using the name "Satoshi Nakamoto" as a pseudonym. Wright eventually found himself in court against his former partner, David Kleiman, over the rights to half of the 1.1 million bitcoin that was mined and held under Satoshi's name, as well as some intellectual property rights.

According to CNBC, the Miami court and its federal jury ultimately ruled in favor of Wright, granting him the cache worth nearly $54 billion USD. Wright will have to pay $100 million of that to the W&K Info Defense Research LLC for compensatory damages, but this case has proven to be a winner for someone we can now call a Bitcoin creator.

After his resounding trial WINs in the Kleiman case today, a word from #CraigWright (#SatoshiNakamoto) to his supporters#Satoshi #Bitcoin #CraigWrightisSatoshi pic.twitter.com/oS6UbglGN8

— Jimmy Nguyen (@JimmyWinSV) December 6, 2021

The Satoshi Nakamoto name had been floating around since Bitcoin's inception in 2008. His identity was a mystery, with the idea that he could be one or a collective group of people. As suddenly as he appeared, Nakamoto disappeared in 2011, with 1.1 million bitcoin mined.

The CNBC story adds that Wright had promised to donate a portion of his bitcoin fortune to charity upon his victory, so we'll keep an eye on that. This has been an interesting story to follow, but it probably won't be the last tale of this kind from the crypto world. Keep it on Shacknews for the latest stories.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?