Who ‘invented’ Bitcoin? UK court to decide: 10 things to know about the trial

Craig Wright trial: Here are top things you need to know about the trial in UK court

The trial of alleged bitcoin creator Craig Wright opened in London as the court seeks to determine whether an Australian computer scientist invented the world's most popular cryptocurrency or not. The 53-year-old has said that he Satoshi Nakamoto- pseudonym of bitcoin's creator and author of a white paper that introduced the cryptocurrency to the world in 2008.

Craig Wright trial: Australian computer scientist Craig Wright arrives at the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain. (Reuters)

He is being sued by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organisation set up to keep cryptocurrency technology free from patents, over his claims made in 2016. COPA lawyer Jonathan Hough said in opening remarks, “Over a period of nearly 10 years... (Wright had) the strongest incentive to prove he is Satoshi Nakamoto -- but single handedly failed.”

Here are top things you need to know about the trial:

1. Documents provided by Craig Wright were not written in the same software code as the original 2008 white paper, COPA lawyer said as per news agency AFP.
2. The lawyer said, "COPA's case is, simply, that Dr Wright's claim to be Satoshi is a lie, founded on an elaborate false narrative and backed by forgery of documents on an industrial scale. As his false documents and inconsistencies have been exposed, he has resorted to further forgery and ever more implausible excuses."
3. The organisation wants the court to rule that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto.
4. Craig Wright has described himself as "Creator of Bitcoin" on the social media platform X. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “I conceived bitcoin, and I unveiled it to the world.”
5. In the court, Craig Wright said that he "has the required skills and knowledge" to have created the bitcoin system while he rejected claims of forged documents, saying that "metadata anomalies" identified by experts “are explained (and caused) by his complex computer environment and working practices, which involved creating, storing and working on files in a shared and collaborative environment.