High Court: Man claiming to have invented Bitcoin set to be awarded damages : CityAM

The High Court is poised to award damages to an Australian computer scientist who claims he is Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Dr Wright is pursuing a defamation claim against podcaster Peter McCormack who repeatedly accused him of fraudulently claiming to be Bitcoin’s elusive creator. The High Court today handed down an initial judgement at a pre-trail review which rejected a key part of McCormack’s defence.

“It is not a legitimate reverse innuendo plea,” the documents said. “Justification has been abandoned; and he cannot rely on such matters in mitigation of damages or in relation to serious harm.”

“This judgment represents a comprehensive victory for Dr Wright,” said Simon Cohen of ONTIER, the firm defending the claimant. “We now look forward to trial where Dr Wright will prove the serious harm caused to him by McCormack’s publications.”

In 2016 Wright claimed he had written the infamous Bitcoin Whitepaper which first outlined blockchain technology.

The claim is hotly disputed. In May 2019, McCormack was amongst online critics who alleged that Wright lacked evidence to back up his claim. In response Wright said he would take the dispute to court.

The case forms part of a wider legal action being pursued by Wright who has launched a lawsuit at the high court against 16 software developers in hopes he will be able to access Nakamoto’s fortune of 111,000 bitcoins (£4.4bn). The money is held at two digital addresses that Wright claims he has lost the private keys for.

Given that McCormack’s defence has been greatly reduced in scope the trial is expected to last just three days before a final judgement is given.

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