It is all going down in Miami, Florida at the moment. A civil trial between Ira Kleiman and Craig S.Wright kicked off on Monday, and a conclusive end could reveal the actual inventor of Bitcoin, pseudonymously known as Satoshi Nakamoto. Craig S.Wright, a computer scientist and cryptographer, attested to be the creator of Bitcoin in 2016. The Bitcoin community has heavily criticized CSW’s claim over the years but he continued to stand his ground, declaring ownership of the Bitcoin white paper.
However, outside criticism has not stopped the Kleiman family from taking Craig S. Wright to court. Here is the complete story.
Wright vs Kleiman and 1.1 million Bitcoin
According to Ira Kleiman, brother of late David Kleiman, Satoshi Nakamoto was a dual identity of both individuals. David, a fellow computer scientist, was Craig’s long-term friend and they formed a partnership to establish W&K Info Defense Research LLC. They used this particular organization to mine Bitcoin and store their intellectual property, which included 1.1 million BTC and the source code.
Now, after David’s death, Ira Kleiman is suggesting that his brother was independently responsible for stashing the 1.1 million BTC. Wright’s being accused of swindling that from David’s estate and dishonoring the partnership. Wright denies these allegations and states that David Kleiman was never his partner during his early Bitcoin venture.
Now, according to Kyle Roche, attorney for Kleiman estate, Wright has demonstrated conflicting statements since David’s demise. Roche revealed emails to the court in which Wright repeatedly referred to David Kleiman as his “partner” and his “business partner” however, it changed after April 2013.
In deposition footage dated April 4, 2019, Wright said, “He was never my partner. … I hate the whole concept of partnership.”
Now Wright defended his claim but stated that both Ira and he had a different understanding of the word “partner”. His counter-argument also includes a lack of written agreement between him and David Kleiman. Now, while both plaintiffs are amidst their trial in Florida, the reality behind the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is a little more complicated.
Craig S. Wright; Never proven as Satoshi Nakamoto yet?
Wright announced in 2016 that he was Bitcoin’s creator and he had access to Satoshi’s private keys, however, he failed to prove it. “I do not have the courage. I cannot” was his statement in a deleted blog post.
Regardless in 2019, Wright was back to his antics. After Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum founder, denied his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, Wright called him a “fraud” and sent a legal notice in his direction. Lately, the tide is now pushing against Craig’s protest.
On 4th July 2021, Wladimir van der Laan posted a link to a repository that is dedicated to a collective of “facts about CSW’s involvement in Bitcoin.” It comprises the legal notice sent to Buterin and includes accounts of CSW supporters. The link also highlights blog posts that were faked by CSW alongside forged contracts and emails.
Van der Laan went on to add that despite crypto’s divided opinion on different assets, it continues to remain united to dismiss CSW’s claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
So, How does CSW prove he is the creator of Bitcoin?
The method remains straightforward for Wright. If Wright does not have the private key to access the wallet or he isn’t able to retrieve the 1.1 million BTC, his claim remains dubious. Now, the Florida trial may go in Kleiman’s favor, forcing Wright to hand over David’s share of the stash. However, if that isn’t done, the anonymous figure of Satoshi Nakamoto remains a mystery.