While the eyes of the entire market are watching the movements of the largest cryptocurrency, an important case has just ended in a Miami court. In it, the self-proclaimed creator of the first cryptocurrency scored a dubious and, as it turns out, costly victory.
Kleiman vs. Wright – what’s at stake here
Ira Kleiman, is the brother of the late Dave Kleiman. He is suing Craig Wright, claiming that the two worked together to create both the white paper and the actual creation of the Bitcoin code. At the heart of the case is a crypto wallet that allegedly belongs to Bitcoin’s creator and which, according to many estimates, may hold as many as 1.1 million coins. Wright, as the alleged creator of Bitcoin, is supposed to be its owner, or as Kleiman claims – co-owner, as half of the funds accumulated in the wallet belong to his brother.
The case was quite complicated, as for obvious reasons Dave himself, who died in 2013, could not speak. However, Ira’s lawyer pointed out that the emails that survived from that time clearly identified his brother as Craig’s accomplice. The latter, of course, denies this, suggesting that Dave was merely his friend who helped correct the white paper’s grammatical errors. Kleiman’s final demand became $179 billion. $36 billion for the value of half of the unavailable Bitcoin, $126 billion for intellectual property and $17 billion in punitive damages.
After several weeks of hearings and a simultaneous several days of sworn jurors, the parties heard the verdict. The court ordered Wright to pay $100 million to W&K Info Defense Research LLC, a company he and Dave Kleiman founded. Importantly, he was not ordered to turn over any Bitcoin to the Kleiman family and was cleared of most of the charges against him. For the defendant, this verdict seems to be very satisfying because, as he pointed out, it marks a victory and provides a sense of relief.
The case is more important than one may think
For the cryptographic community this case is quite important. For there are not many people who believe that Craig Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto. In Miami, however, the Australian had the opportunity to prove it. In his defense downplaying Dave Kleiman’s involvement, the prosecutor asked that Wright prove his role in writing the Bitcoin code. This would have been fairly easy in principle; after all, all he needs to do is sign the contents of the mysterious wallet with a private key. The defendant, however, failed to do so.
Ultimately, Wright remains the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin. He suggests, however, that there are many more battles to be fought before him. Perhaps one of them will reveal the truth…
