According to the court report on August 26, 2019, Craig Wright, a self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator has lost a court battle to the Kleiman estate. As a result, the Florida federal court has ordered the Australian computer scientist to handover 50% of Bitcoin mined before 2014, to the Kleiman estate.
Kleiman vs. Wright Lawsuit Draws to a Close
For some months now, a court case has been ongoing between Craig Wright, a man who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, and the Kleiman estate, a group representing the late David Kleiman. David Kleiman was a security researcher and Wright’s former business partner.
In the Kleiman vs. Wright lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that Wright had carted away 1.1 million Bitcoins mined together with Kleiman. Also, the plaintiff asked the court to reinstate half the Bitcoins which Wright had purportedly stolen and rights to specific Intellectual Property (IP) associated with the Bitcoin technology, to Kleiman.
Wright is Ordered to Handover 50% of Bitcoins Mined Before 2014
On the other hand, 22nd Century Crypto revealed that Wright had lost to the Kleiman estate. Thus, the court has ordered the Bitcoin SV proponent to return half the Bitcoins that were mined by him before Kleiman’s death in 2014. Wright has also been asked to reinstate 50% of the IP to the Kleiman estate.
22nd Century Crypto also outlined that the judge had rejected all of Wright’s testimonies claiming that the documents presented by him were falsified. It can be recalled that there were several doubts about the claims made by Wright during the court case. For instance, Jonathan Warren, developer of Bitmessage, had said some documents Wright presented during the trial are fake.
Can Wright’s Loss Tank Bitcoin’s Price?
On the contrary, the crypto community seemed divided about the news of Wright’s loss in the court case. A user, for instance, opined that giving out over 500,000 Bitcoins to the Kleiman estate will lead to a dump in Bitcoin’s price. According to them, the plaintiff will likely sell it off for cash, which could lead to a higher supply of the cryptocurrency in the market.
Other members of the community remarked that neither does Craig Wright, nor the Kleiman have private keys to access the 1.1 million Bitcoins. As such, there is no need to spread FUD that the crypto market will tank anytime soon.
Another set of users stated that the judge’s ruling proves that Craig Wright is a fraud. Also, if Bitcoin is affected by a potential sell-off, so would Bitcoin SV and other forks of Bitcoin.
