Image Source: Forbes
By: Michael Argenta
November 14, 2021
One million bitcoins. 64 billion dollars. A lawsuit unlike any other. The family of a deceased man is suing his former business partner over control of their joint assets. These shared assets are one million bitcoins belonging to the cryptocurrency’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The family claims that their relative and his business partner were Nakamoto together, entitling them to half the fortune.
The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has been a mystery since bitcoin’s inception. No one knows if it is one individual or a group of people and why they have not touched a penny of their fortune. Who created the trillion-dollar market with tens of millions of investors could soon be revealed at the height of this case; intriguing crypto fans around the world.
The family of David Kleiman is suing Craig Wright, a 51-year-old Australian man. Wright has argued since 2016 that he created bitcoin but has been dismissed by most of the crypto community. However, Kleiman’s family is adamant that he and Wright created it together. As expected, the plaintiffs plan to share information and evidence on the partners’ joint creation of bitcoin while the defense plans to show how Wright single-handedly created it.
While the trial may produce evidence of the creator(s) of bitcoin, the only conclusive proof of the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is the private key to the account. Anyone with secure access to this account could prove their identity by moving the smallest amount of crypto out of it. Without this, anyone can claim to be the creator of bitcoin.
So, will the creator of bitcoin finally be revealed? Will it be Wright and Kleiman, just Wright, or someone completely different? Fans of crypto will just have to wait and see if a conclusion of this mystery plays out in Florida. With so much money at stake and the judicial system at work, Satoshi Nakamoto may no longer be unknown.