The ongoing trial between the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) and Craig Wright, who claims to be the creator of Bitcoin under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, took a dramatic turn in its third week as Wright admitted to editing the Bitcoin whitepaper he presented as evidence.
Editing the Bitcoin Whitepaper
COPA aims to disprove Wright’s claim, arguing that it’s built on “industrial-style forgeries.” During Friday’s session, Alexander Gunning, representing the Bitcoin developers, presented evidence showing edits made by Wright to the whitepaper’s “LaTeX files.” While Wright acknowledged the edits, he claimed they were simply demonstrations for his lawyers at Shoosmiths.
However, Gunning challenged this explanation, pointing out that the edits were made as recently as November 2023 and questioned whether Wright was “tweaking parameters” to match the original whitepaper layout. This raised concerns about the authenticity of the document presented as evidence.
The questioning ended on a contentious note, with Gunning directly asking Wright if his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto is “fraudulent,” which Wright disputed.
Witnesses Cast Doubt on Wright’s claims
This development adds to the growing skepticism surrounding Wright’s claims. The trial’s third week also saw testimonies from several witnesses, including Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, founder of Zcash, who downplayed his relationship with Nakamoto.
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Marti Malmi, a computer scientist, further challenged Wright’s narrative by disputing the dates he provided for their alleged interaction with Nakamoto. Malmi even released emails with Nakamoto on X (formerly Twitter) to support his claims.
On the other hand, Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, testified about email correspondence with someone claiming to be Nakamoto in 2008. Wright dismissed Back’s account as “dismissive,” which Back refuted.
Wright Trial Continues
With conflicting testimonies and the whitepaper editing controversy, the COPA trial is far from over. The coming weeks will be crucial in determining the validity of Craig Wright’s claim to be the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto.
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