Australia police search home of man named as bitcoin founder

The news, first reported by The Guardian, came after earlier investigations by USA news site Wired and Gizmodo alleged that Mr Wright, a 44-year old “unknown Australian genius” and adjunct computer science lecturer at Charles Sturt University, was in fact “Satoshi Nakamoto”, the mysterious creator of bitcoin.

The mystery of who is the real Nakamoto may have been solved after a a new investigation by Gizmodo, suggesting it is Sydney man Dr Craig Steven Wright, who holds two PhDs, is a security researcher and crucially, a huge bitcoin enthusiast.

Another email identified in Gizmodo’s investigation – reportedly sent in January 2014 from an address linked to the Satoshi Nakamoto figure, to a lawyer the previous transcript identifies as being used by Wright, and signed “Craig (possibly)” – questions whether the sender should contact the Australian Tax Office about Bitcoin regulation.

Today, Australian police raided the home and offices of Wright.

Wired and Gizmodo both report suspicion fell on Wright when an anonymous source leaked them documents, including blog posts, emails and accounting statements, which indicated connections between Wright and the supposed creator of Bitcoin.

Gizmodo also claims to have gotten in touch with Ira Kleiman, a brother of one of Wright’s close friends, who says that Wright had acknowledged creating bitcoin.

Wired’s case – based on archived blog posts, financial records, and leaked documents, with no confirmation from Wright – is the most compelling of the many candidates that have been previously named.

The origin of cryptocurrency (in its current, known form) seems to be a 2008 white-paper released by an entity that refers to itself as Satoshi Nakamoto.

Wright has also claimed to be a consultant for the Austalian federal police.

In the article, Wired mentions that “Either Wright invented bitcoin, or he’s a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did”.

Newsweek got into hot water past year when it ran a story claiming a man named Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto was truly the founder of Bitcoin. Despite this, Wright’s property was raided only hours after the stories went live.

The system is peer-to-peer, and is generally considered the first decentralised digital currency.

Wright’s LinkedIn profile also lists him as the CEO of two companies- Hotwire Pre-Emptive Intelligence Group and DeMorgan Limited.

The treatment of bitcoin for tax purposes in Australia has been the subject of considerable debate.

“Bitcoin is a virtual currency built around a complicated cryptographic protocol and a global network of computers that oversees and verifies which coins have been spent by whom”. The raid may not be about the claim that Wright is the founder of Bitcoin, but it could be about taxes owed as a result of Wright’s involvement with the cryptocurrency.