COPA Trial: Craig Wright Became ‘Very Annoying’ But Was ‘Probably’ Bitcoin’s Creator

Bitcoin Whitepaper COPA Craig Wright
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Jimmy Aki
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Jimmy has nearly 10 years of experience as a journalist and writer in the blockchain industry. He has worked with well-known publications such as Bitcoin Magazine, CCN, and Blockonomi, covering news...

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In the ongoing legal battle between the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) and self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright, intriguing revelations came to the surface on February 19, suggesting that Wright could be the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto.

This revelation came to light during the testimony of a witness who described Wright as “very annoying.” Still, it acknowledged his potential connection to the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin due to his affinity for Japanese culture.

Craig Wright’s Work With Qudos Bank Comes to Light

Three key witnesses were summoned to testify in the third week of the legal battle between the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) and Craig Wright. Qudos Bank’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO) David Bridges, Max Layman, and nChain co-founder Stefan Matthews took the witness stand on Monday.

Bridges, the first to be questioned by COPA’s legal attorney Jonathan Hough, revealed that the self-described Bitcoin founder worked with the Qudos Bank as an IT expert sometime in 2005. He noted that Wright had given him several documents and papers, which became ‘very annoying’ to him at the time.

When questioned on if any of the documents was a ‘criminal whitepaper’ as the COPA attorney called it, however, Bridges responded that it could be possible.

Sharing more details, he stated that most of the documents focused on the forensic and IT services Wright performed for the Australian mutual fund bank.

The next item on the COPA legal team’s agenda was to ascertain whether Wright discussed the idea of a decentralized payment system with Bridges.

In an earlier statement, Bridges said that Wright proposed a system that could replace the traditional SWIFT network. The Qudos Bank CIO said that was the case, however, he was not quite familiar with the technical details surrounding Wright’s idea.

He also pointed out that he was not yet familiar with Bitcoin, even though it was 2010 when the ‘Bitcoin Pizza’ event became popular. Bitcoin Pizza refers to an event when early Bitcoin user Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoins for a pair of Papa John’s Pizzas.

Next, the COPA legal team asked Bridges if he was still of the opinion that Wright was Satoshi Nakamoto due to his love of Japanese stuff, to which he responded in the affirmative.

When asked whether he knew that other names had been drafted in the lineup of possible Bitcoin founders, Bridges said he didn’t know and didn’t follow the narratives.

Bitcoin Whitepaper ‘Could Have Been One of Them’

Wright’s cousin, Max Lyman, was the next witness called to the stand. Lyman confirmed that Wright had asked him to ‘run some code’ on his computer, however, the computer was not up to the task at the time.

Sharing more details, Lyman stated that Wright was running an e-commerce business then.

Lyman also revealed that he got the Bitcoin whitepaper but was curious about it coming from Wright. He said that Wright sent him several documents and a whitepaper draft could have been one of them.

He also stated that he was not convinced that Wright was the creator of the foremost crypto asset.

Stefan Matthews was the third witness on the stand, and his relationship with Calvin Ayre and Wright was brought up.

The co-founder of nChain noted that Ayre was an investor in the nChain platform but denied that he had notable sway in the company despite a 500 million Swiss francs investment.

He, however, admitted that he served as a promoter of Wright’s claims of being the Bitcoin network founder.

Matthews stated he did not sponsor Wright’s legal actions and only paid him salaries as a business routine.

The ongoing trial between COPA and Wright seeks to debunk the latter’s claims of being the founder of the world’s largest blockchain network.

According to the plaintiff, it is requesting that the UK court issue an injunction against Wright that states that he is not the rightful creator of the Bitcoin network.

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