Craig Wright vented on Tuesday to “experts” who “cannot verify their work” in a trial where his claim to have invented Bitcoin is being questioned. The cryptocurrency industry has been accusing Wright of not being able to prove this claim for years.
“I hate that. I loathe it,” Wright shot out, but Judge James Mellor, who was presiding over the case, cut him off, telling the “lady in the back row,” who was “nodding and moving her head,” to “just keep still” or face arrest.
Tension increased as the Australian computer scientist began his sixth day of testimony and the lawyers representing the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) questioned Wright about documents and other evidence that was crucial to his claim that he is the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
He was questioned once more on Tuesday over a blog entry that was supposedly signed cryptographically to establish his identity as Satoshi, but which experts later deemed to be a fake.
One question was if Wright’s keys could be gained by someone other than Satoshi, in which case the “signing sessions” might not be legitimate.
It is not possible to show “identity”—that is, that he is Satoshi—by “possession” of the keys, he claimed. “You don’t prove by having identity through possession of something. You prove by knowledge. Who you are. What you create, “said Wright.
Jonathan Hough of COPA asked Wright to confirm that presenting “a signed message” as intended to demonstrate his identity as Satoshi would not have presented a security risk of the aforementioned private keys being discovered by others.
In response, Wright stated: “The security risk is the security of my work, undermining the whole value of everything I’ve created.” Not that someone will take the key.”
Mellor interrupted the cross-examination multiple times during the full day, telling Wright that he would “assume” he had no response to a question if he didn’t respond.
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