Craig Wright, a man who claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto and subsequently lost a massive lawsuit for allegedly billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin, has requested time to reach a settlement with the Kleiman estate.
Wright’s one-time business partner, Dave Kleiman, died years ago. After Wright came forward claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, Kleiman’s brother sued on his behalf, saying that Wright had unlawfully taken Kleiman’s portion of early Bitcoin mining proceeds.
Wright Presses For More Time
A federal judge eventually agreed with the Kleiman estate, ruling last month that Wright owes half of his pre-2014 Bitcoin holdings. The ruling would seem to put Craig Wright on the hook for half of the legendary “Satoshi hoard,” a massive trove of BTC believed to be held by Bitcoin’s creator.
According to a court filing, Wright and the plaintiffs are working towards an unspecified settlement.
“The parties are currently engaged in good faith settlement discussions. To that end, Dr. Wright and Plaintiffs respectfully request a 30-day extension of all discovery and case deadlines to facilitate these discussions.”
As such, Wright’s lawyers want an extra 30 days to work out a resolution with the Kleiman people.
During the trial, Wright failed to produce proof that he held the alleged stash of more than 1 million bitcoins. At no time did Judge Reinhart certify Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
One obvious way for Wright to prove his identity as Saotshi Nakamoto has always been to simply access and move the large stash of early BTC. However, Wright claims that he, Kleiman, and other people put the coins in trust some years ago. In just a few months, the “Tulip Trust” should be able to release the coins to Wright.
The $5 Billion Satoshi Nakamoto Gambit
If Wright has been telling the truth all along, we could be talking about a sum of more than $5 billion – effectively making the Kleiman estate one of the wealthiest Bitcoiners in the world.
Presently, he is under court order to surrender half of those bitcoins to the Kleiman estate.
The loss was interpreted by some as evidence that Wright is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto. However, the judge went out of his way to say that he counted himself unconvinced.
Wright’s antics have been legendary, since bursting onto the crypto scene in 2015, claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto. He was an important figure in the hardfork that led to the creation of Bitcoin Cash, and later the principal architect of a subsequent fork called Bitcoin “Satoshi’s Vision.”
Those coins are trading at $327 and $128, respectively, while Bitcoin proper trades over $10,000.
