[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Attention is focused on whether the identity of 'Satoshi Nakamoto,' the creator of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, will be revealed through an ongoing trial in Florida, USA.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 13th (local time), this issue arose when the family of David Kleiman, who died in April 2013, filed a lawsuit against his business partner Craig Wright (51) over the ownership of about 1 million Bitcoins. At current market prices, this amounts to $64 billion (approximately 75.5 trillion KRW).
The claim is that both Kleiman and Wright are Satoshi, and therefore half of the approximately 1 million Bitcoins owned by Satoshi belong to Kleiman's family.
Wright, an Australian programmer currently residing in London, UK, has claimed since 2016 that he was the first to create Bitcoin, but the cryptocurrency industry generally holds a negative view of him.
Kleiman's family also countered that Wright and Kleiman jointly mined 1 million Bitcoins in the early days, and that the family is entitled to half, or 500,000 Bitcoins.
The plaintiffs plan to submit evidence showing that the two were involved in Bitcoin development together from the beginning and cooperated.
Thibaut Nagy, the attorney representing the family, told WSJ, "This is a trial about two friends who were partners, and how after one passed away, the other tried to take everything for himself."
However, Wright's side stated that they have evidence proving he is the sole creator of Bitcoin and that Kleiman had no role.
Bitcoin first appeared on October 31, 2008, when someone using the name Satoshi Nakamoto posted a nine-page whitepaper explaining the Bitcoin system on the internet.
The family claims that in early 2008, Wright asked Kleiman for help in writing this whitepaper. They say the two collaborated to write the whitepaper and develop Bitcoin together.
Satoshi, who was active in online spaces, disappeared after December 2010, and in 2014, when Newsweek reported that a person named Dorian Nakamoto was the real Satoshi, a rebuttal was posted stating, "I am not Dorian Nakamoto," after which Satoshi disappeared again.
Then, in May 2016, Wright claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin but faced severe criticism and retracted his claim three days later with an apology. However, he later reversed his stance again, asserting that he is indeed Satoshi.
While many regard Wright as merely a hacker and fraudster, WSJ reported that experts say Kleiman might have truly created Bitcoin, considering his computer knowledge.
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