$1.2B Bitcoin Core Lawsuit: Wright Faces Contempt Case

Australian computer scientist and self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright is facing a contempt of court case over his lawsuit against BTC Core developers and Jack Dorsey’s Square. UK Judge James Mellor put Wright’s lawsuit on hold until the application is resolved on December 18.

Wright Faces Contempt Case For Bitcoin Core Lawsuit

On November 1, Craig Wright attended a court hearing regarding a contempt of court application for his £911 million lawsuit, worth $1.2 billion, against Bitcoin Core developers and Square Up European Ltd.

As a response, the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) filed a contempt application form, arguing that Wright breached the injunction that resulted from the main Bitcoin authorship trial.

As reported by Bitcoinist, British High Court Judge James Mellor ruled against Wright’s claims of being Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, earlier this year. The Judge concluded that the Australian computer scientist had “extensively and repeatedly” lied in his written and oral evidence and forged documents on a grand scale to sustain his claims.

Consequentially, the court ordered Wright to admit he was not Satoshi Nakamoto and cease any further legal action related to his disproved authorship claims.

According to the court hearing transcription shared by BitMEX Research, the application form argues that Wright breached the Court’s previous ruling after threatening to bring Precluded Proceedings and eventually doing so against Bitcoin Core and Square.

COPA’s Contempt of Court application form. Source: BitMEX Research on X.

The self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto filed a lawsuit on October 10, claiming that BTC Core developers and “all affiliated parties” have misrepresented BTC as the original Bitcoin.

Wright, representing himself in this lawsuit, argues that the Taproot and Segregated Witness (SegWit) upgrades “have caused confusion in the market and have compromised the vision of the original Bitcoin protocol.”

Moreover, the computer scientist claims Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the real version of the flagship cryptocurrency and requested over $1 billion in damages for undermining the asset and creating a misperception.

Wright Denies COPA’s Accusation

During today’s hearing, Wright, who attended via video call from Singapore, refuted the accusation, stating, “I do not believe I am in contempt, my lord.” He added that if the court found him in contempt, he would be willing to amend the case as he didn’t wish to be in breach.

Previously, Wright explained on an X thread that he did not start his latest legal battle as Satoshi “but as someone who invested significantly in the system.” The computer scientist argues that his new claim is “fundamentally different” from an identity claim since it is based on his “contributions to the development, maintenance, and extension of the Bitcoin blockchain.”

Judge Mellor decided to halt Wright’s lawsuit while the contempt application was resolved and scheduled the correspondent hearing for December 18. Nonetheless, Wright initially opposed making a physical appearance in court that day, claiming that his autism spectrum disorder (ASD) would prevent him from physically being in court.

Meanwhile, COPA’s legal representative, Jonathan Hough, argued that the seriousness of the allegation requires all parties to be in court:

This is an extremely serious judicial proceeding. Therefore, we think it should take place in person. CSW has brought a very large claim, if there is any merit in COPA’s application, it is wrong in principle to hide behind a keyboard from a closet in Thailand. CSW says he is a UK resident and should be expected to return to the UK for the hearing.

Ultimately, Judge Mellor set an additional direction hearing date for November 26 to determine whether Wright will be present in court next month.