Australian computer scientist and businessman Craig Wright testified in a Norwegian court that he “stomped on the hard drive” containing the “key slices” required to gain access to Satoshi Nakamoto’s private keys, making it impossible to verify his identity as the Bitcoin creator.
This is all over a legal battle between Wright and crypto Twitter fame Hodlonaut over a series of tweets. Hodlonaut tweeted in March 2019, branding Wright a scammer and a fraud.
In 2016, Wright attempted to prove he was Satoshi by demonstrating proof that he controlled Satoshi’s private keys, first in private signing sessions with Bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen and former Bitcoin Foundation Director Jon Matonis.
However, in Norway, Wright is no longer attempting to convince the court that he is Satoshi using cryptographic evidence.
This is partly because he claims to have destroyed his only proof soon after making an unsuccessful suicide attempt in May 2016, following his signing session with Andresen, and partially because he now contends that cryptographic evidence is inconclusive and that identity is not related to keys.
In order to avoid having to authenticate his identity cryptographically, something Wright said he refused to do because it would provide his detractors with the easy way out, destroying the hard drive was the only solution, he told the court.
Hodlonaut’s lawyer, Ørjan Haukaas, questioned Wright about whether he thought he could obtain a court order granting him access to Satoshi’s 1.1M bitcoins if a judge declared him to be Satoshi. Wright disputed the number saying Satoshi never had 1.1M bitcoins, but appeared to agree to Haukaas’s statement.
If a judge was willing, Wright informed the court that a minor issue like not possessing Satoshi’s keys wouldn’t prevent him from getting Satoshi’s coins.
Wright stated “Bitcoin is like a paper ledger. If you make a mistake in an accounting ledger, you can always update it… any alteration including having a court order reassigns bitcoin can always be done, but it has to be a public thing such as a court order.”
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