Craig Wright: Self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor faces prosecution in UK for perjury

A computer scientist who falsely claimed to have created Bitcoin has been referred to UK prosecutors for possible legal action over charges of perjury and forgery.

Craig Wright had long claimed to have been the author of a 2008 white paper, the foundational text of the cryptocurrency, published under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

But Judge James Mellor ruled in March that the evidence Wright was not Satoshi was "overwhelming", after a trial in a case brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (Copa) to stop Wright suing Bitcoin developers.

Wright lost a legal battle with Copa, a non-profit group including cryptocurrency firms, in March after the group claimed he committed "forgery on an industrial scale" to support a "brazen lie" that he was Satoshi.

The judge said in a written ruling on Tuesday that he was referring the case to Britain's Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether Wright should be charged with perjury for lying on oath during the trial.

Mr Mellor said that if Wright's conduct did not warrant a referral to the Crown Prosecution Service, "it is difficult to envisage a case which would".

"I have no doubt that I should refer the relevant papers in this case to the CPS for consideration of whether a prosecution should be commenced against Dr Wright for his wholescale perjury and forgery of documents and/or whether a warrant for his arrest should be issued and/or whether his extradition," the judge said.

In a judgment in May, Mr Mellor said he was "entirely satisfied" that Wright repeatedly lied and committed "clumsy" forgeries "on a grand scale" to support his claims.

"Dr Wright presents himself as an extremely clever person. However, in my judgment, he is not nearly as clever as he thinks he is," he said.

"In both his written evidence and in days of oral evidence under cross-examination, I am entirely satisfied that Dr Wright lied to the court extensively and repeatedly."

Mr Mellor later said Wright found "convenient excuses" for evidence against him and his attempts to prove he was Satoshi "represent a most serious abuse of the court's process".

In Tuesday's ruling, the judge granted two injunctions against Wright, preventing him from threatening or commencing legal action of a similar type.

He also said Wright should publicise the details of the ruling made against him "in order further to dispel residual uncertainty".

Wright will have to display a notice on the homepage of his website for six months, with the same notice pinned to his profile on X, formerly Twitter, and his Slack channels for three months.