Self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright faces perjury investigation: report

Self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright has reportedly been referred to the UK prosecutor on charges of perjury after a judge found he lied “extensively and repeatedly” about his claim.

Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, who claims to have invented Bitcoin (BTC), has been referred to British prosecutors by a judge at London’s High Court on charges of perjury, Reuters has learned. The judge found Wright lied “extensively and repeatedly” to support his false claims that he created the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Wright has long claimed that he wrote the 2008 whitepaper under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. But in March, after the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) launched a legal battle to block Wright from suing Bitcoin developers, Judge James Mellor ruled that the evidence proving Wright was not Satoshi was “overwhelming.”

In his written decision, Judge Mellor emphasised the seriousness of Wright’s actions, noting that he had referred the case to the UK Prosecution Service (CPS) for prosecution on charges of perjury because he had lied under oath during the trial.

“Unless Wright’s conduct warrants a referral to the Crown Prosecution Service, it is difficult to envisage a case that would.”

Judge James Mellor

The judge added: “I have no doubt that I should forward the relevant documents in this case to the CPS for consideration of whether Dr Wright should be prosecuted for wholesale perjury and document forgery and/or whether a warrant of arrest should be issued for him and/or whether his extradition should be sought from his current location.”

In mid-March, just one day after the Supreme Court ruled that Craig Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto, billionaire backer Calvin Ayre announced on X that he would be leaving the platform to “embark on an adventure” that he had been “planning for the past year,” according to his own statement.