A self-proclaimed Bitcoin Inventor, Craig Wright’s court trial hits a snag! On the fifteenth day of the highly anticipated court trial involving Craig Wright, a contentious development has emerged. Wright, who has long been a controversial figure in the cryptocurrency community, is now challenging the authenticity of crucial evidence presented against him. While cross-examining the arguments of Patrick Madden, a digital forensics expert, Wright’s wife, Ramona Watts, presented these emails. Moreover, a forgery video of Wright allegedly recreating the Bitcoin White paper was presented in the court. Let’s recap all the dramas garnered huge attention on Day 15 of Wright’s court trial.
Before that, let’s give you a little overview of this case.
COPA vs Craig Wright: A Long Battle Finally Ending?
As you may know, in 2015, from nowhere, a man named Craig Wright emerged and self-proclaimed himself as a real ‘Satoshi Nakamoto.’ (Satoshi Nakamoto was the man behind the creation of Bitcoin’s white paper, who suddenly disappeared after that)
For the next few years, all he did was self-promotion for being a real Bitcoin inventor. But, recognized crypto communities & organizations always thought of him as a ‘Big Liar.’ As a result, COPA (Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance) sued Craig Wright for running a fake campaign, identifying himself as a ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’. COPA moved to the UK high court to officially declare that ‘Craig Wright is not a Satoshi Nakamoto.’
Read our previously published news blog post, which discusses the in-depth history behind this case. Moreover, we’ve also recapped all the hearings from February 6 to February 14, where Craig Wright’s statement was cross-examined.
According to the official schedule, the Cross-examination of digital forensic experts is scheduled from February 23 to March 1.
This cross-examination hasn’t even ended yet. Still, it is garnering so much attention. The reason behind this is an Email.
Recap of Madden’s Cross-Examination in Craig Wright’s Court Trail
After cross-examining Patrick Madden, a digital forensics expert, the entire day, he made some arguments that pissed off Wright’s wife. Madden questions the reliability of all the documents that Wright’s legal team has presented as proof.
Before drama begins, Craig Orr (a cross-examiner for Madden from Wright’s side) asks a series of questions.
Craig Orr: Is the footer in a document presented by Wight as evidence that could or could not have existed in 2008?
Madden: ‘I can’t say that 100%’.
Craig Orr: Are you speculating these things?
Madden: ‘It’s a bit more than that, but okay.’
Craig Orr: Why did you rely on Bird & Bird LLP (COPA’s counsel) to draft his report instead of hiring an independent professional assistant?
Madden: ‘I didn’t trust anyone else to do the work.’
Originally, Madden’s cross-examination was planned for at least two days. However, it ended up in less than a day. Therefore, Shoosmiths had to cross-examine two more witnesses from COPA’s side.
Digging Long-Year-Ago History in Craig Wright’s Case: The Emails Between Satoshi with Martti Malmi & Adam Back Become Public in Court Trail
If you’re well-informed on Bitcoin’s history, you may know all these names: Martti Malmi & Adam Back.
Martii Malmi’s Emails Are Irrelevant
Martti Malmi was the first administrator of Bitcoin.org. After Satoshi disappeared. On GitHub (a code repository), Malmi published a series of emails. The emails were casual and professional conversations on the creation of Bitcoin & Bitcoin.org. Craig Wright presented these secret emails as evidence for proving himself to be the real ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ to whom Malmi was writing emails. Due to the heavy involvement of Malmi in this evidence, he had to take the witness stand to explain why these emails were kept as secret. To which he argues, at that time, these emails contained secret passwords and several information on Bitcoin. Since this information is irrelevant now, there is no reason to let these emails stay secretive.
Adam Back’s Emails Got Public, and he isn’t able to Recall the Actual Conversation
February 22, 2023. Adam Back was moved to the witness stand when Craig Wright presented the email of the conversation between Adam Back & Satoshi.
In emails, Nakamoto has praised Back’s Hashcash, Bitcoin’s precursor. Moreover, Nakamoto also wrote about crediting the author of the B-Money web page in his Bitcoin whitepaper.
During the cross-examination, Adma Back clearly said that his conversion with Nakamoto was minimal, particularly on professional terms. Furthermore, he also argued he hardly remembers the actual conversation.
A Big Expose Came to Front: Wright’s Former Lawyer Calls These Emails as ‘Not Genuine’
Before this, things were going in Craig Wright’s favor, but who would have thought the trail would take a 360-degree turn?
During the fourth week of the court trial on Monday, Wright’s former lawyers gave a shocking statement. They clearly said in court,
‘The emails shared by Craig Wright’s wife as evidence are not genuine.’
Upon hearing this shocking revelation, the court disclosed the emails and former lawyers’ responses. The emails, statements of both sides of witnesses & other documents are set to be analyzed with the next proceeding on Tuesday.
The Forgery Video Being Played in the Courtroom
Watching an animation video in the British High Court wasn’t what the crypto community expected to see in 2024. But somehow, it happened.
Alexander Gunning, COPA’s attorney, played the animation video, which demonstrates Wright’s alleged attempt to recreate Bitcoin’s whitepaper in LaTeX. Though Wright completely denied this allegation, COPA is standing tall on its findings.
What’s Next?
After the last drama of the cross-examination period, the court adjourned for the weekend. The court trial will resume today, continuing the discussion on the truth behind Satoshi’s emails with Malmi & Back.
