While at a federal court hearing in West Palm Beach, Florida, Craig Wright, an Australian scientist and self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator said he cannot comply with the federal judge’s order to present addresses of his early Bitcoin holdings. Also, he may be unable to access the billions worth of cryptocurrency held within wallets whose key he had entrusted with his late business partner, David Kleiman, reports Bloomberg on June 28, 2019.
Craig Wright Says He Cannot Comply With Court Orders
Per the report, Craig Wright who has claimed on more than one occasion that he is Bitcoin’s creator said he cannot comply with the court’s order to present the addresses of his early Bitcoin holdings. Wright also said he may not be able to access the coins stored in the wallets and he is fine with it because “it’s too much money…I’ve got enough now… and we worry what that amount of money would do to the kids.”
While throwing more light on why the funds may be inaccessible, Wright said he had transferred a key piece of information to Kleiman prior to his death in 2013. As a result, it has made it hard to track the cryptocurrency wallets where the Bitcoins are stored.
Court Order Emerges After Kleiman’s Estate Files Lawsuit Against Wright
The court order, on the other hand, originated after the estate of Dave Kleiman, a late business partner of Wright filed a lawsuit against the self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator, early last year. The estate alleged that after Kleiman’s death in April 2013, Wright forged a series of contracts to transfer assets owned by Kleiman to himself. Also, he purportedly stole “hundreds of thousands” of Bitcoins and intellectual property while working with Kleiman.
Still, in court, Craig Wright stated that he had contacted the late Klieman before his death in order to make his identity as Satoshi anonymous. According to him, he had decided to go into hiding after realizing that Bitcoin is being used to facilitate drug trade and promote illicit content. As such, Klieman as a forensic expert was tasked to cover his tracks in order to hide that he is Satoshi.
The cryptocurrency community, on the other hand, are waiting in hopes to see if Wright can transfer Satoshi’s Bitcoins which have laid dormant for years since it could give a more solid proof that he is Bitcoin’s creator. Nevertheless, Bitcoin SV, a virtual asset supported by Craig Wright could potentially suffer if it is unraveled that Wright actually committed the alleged fraud.
