How could one man go from being so high to so low so quickly? Many experts seem to agree that this is the case for Craig Wright, an Australian bitcoin technologist who is allegedly the man behind the currency’s creation.
Craig Wright Has a Serious Payout to Offer
Wright recently lost a serious lawsuit that will force him to forfeit half of his bitcoin earnings prior to January 2014, along with other interests, to Ira Kleiman, the brother of the now deceased Dave Kleiman. Dave, who served as one of Wright’s core developers, passed away in April of 2013, and Ira claims that Wright has worked hard to make off with his brother’s rightful bitcoin earnings.
This has led to a massive court case that began in 2018 and concluded roughly 24 hours ago after a Florida judge decided that Wright should hand over 50 percent of the bitcoins he mined prior to the start of 2014.
If what Wright has mentioned all this time is correct, there could possibly be about five billion bitcoin units that Ira is entitled to. Of course, Wright and his legal team have the right to appeal the final ruling, though the judge’s decision cannot be opposed.
Following the case’s final points, the Australian made a doomsday announcement to the bitcoin community claiming that billions of BTC units will soon flood the market, which could potentially cause a serious downgrade in the cryptocurrency’s price. Many industry experts, however, are either choosing to ignore Wright’s verbiage or are taking it with a grain of salt.
Wright stirred controversy in 2018 when he claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the man who allegedly created bitcoin. Many enthusiasts find these words hard to believe, and some claim that Wright has no access to the bitcoin holdings he claims to possess.
Ryan Selkis, for example, is the chief executive officer at the crypto research firm Messari Inc. He doesn’t believe anything Wright says, and claims:
I’m not worried about Craig transferring bitcoin to Kleinman because I don’t think he has any to transfer. It’s a sideshow, not a real story.
The real Satoshi Nakamoto allegedly has control of over one million bitcoin units in what’s known as the Tulip Trust. Many have asked Wright to transfer funds from this trust to prove he’s the real Nakamoto, though Wright has refused these requests time and time again.
Is Ira Getting What’s His?
Devin Freeman, a legal representative for Ira Kleiman, comments:
The Kleiman family has waited a long time to recover assets that should have been returned to it shortly after Dave’s unfortunate death in 2013.
While Wright (thus far) doesn’t appear to be rejecting the court’s decision, he did jokingly mention that if Ira wants the bitcoins so bad, he’ll now be privy to heavy estate taxes.