Satoshi Case: Craig Wright Could be Facing Legal Setbacks

Craig Wright’s final appeal in his case against crypto podcast host Peter McCormack has been reportedly denied by the UK Supreme Court, McCormack confirmed in a post on X. The refusal to grant permission for appeal, made by Supreme Court justices, was because “the appeal did not raise an arguable question of law,” noted McCormack.

Also Read: Satoshi Case: UK Judge Delays Wright vs. Bitcoin Devs Trial

Wright sued McCormack for defamation after the latter denied Wright’s claim of being Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. 

Wright lost a libel claim in 2023, and the latest decision could conclude a five-year legal battle.

Craig Wright extends settlement offer

In a separate but related legal battle, Wright has written a settlement offer to Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) members and other parties involved in the intellectual property litigation. In response, COPA said in a post, ‘Hard pass on that “settlement.”‘

Wright’s settlement offer stood valid for seven days, but COPA seems to have rejected it within a few hours.

Lawyer Preston Byrne commented on the situation. He criticized Wright’s strategy of forking Bitcoin SV to access Satoshi Nakamoto’s coins and his subsequent call for a settlement with COPA before a potential February trial.

Notably, COPA challenges Wright’s assertion that he is Satoshi.

COPA levers serious allegations

On Wednesday, COPA added challenges for Wright by revealing testimony by expert witnesses that the documents Wright recently presented are forgeries. COPA alleges the Bitcoin whitepaper, claimed by Wright to have been written in LaTeX was created in OpenOffice, and a “time capsule” file from 2007 was altered in 2023.

Bitcoin SV and Wright supporter Calvin Ayre accused COPA of misrepresenting its intentions and attempting to kill competition. Ayre said, “COPA does not exist to compete…it exists to kill competition. This will now be obvious to the judge now also. I am a bit shocked COPA jumped on this so fast given what this will now do to their case.”

He suggested that COPA is in a legally challenging position.

However, COPA has claimed that Wright may have used ChatGPT to create some of the forged documents. This revelation undermines Wright’s claim of being the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.

Also Read: Ager Exits nChain, Ignites ‘Faketoshi’ Claims Against Wright