Australian police raid alleged bitcoin founder’s home and office

Regardless of the origin, this new shot of fame coincides with a fair amount of personal turmoil, as Wright’s home has just been been the subject of a police raid in Australia.

The big thing about Wright, if he is Satoshi Nakamoto, is that he holds a massive stash of bitcoins, according to Wired and Gizmodo, worth nine-figure currency sums of the more familiar hard kind.

On Wednesday, police raided a home in Sydney where Wright reportedly lived with his family.

But amidst all the clamour, a note of caution was struck by Wired: “We still can’t say with absolute certainty that the mystery is solved”.

“The Australian Federal Police can confirm it has conducted search warrants to assist the Australian Taxation Office at a residence in Gordon, Sydney”, police said in a statement, without confirming it belonged to Mr Wright.

Both publications also note a computer forensics expert named David Kleiman to have played a fundamental role in the creation of bitcoin.

The investigations by online sites had been based upon leaked emails, web archives and documents including what had been said to be a transcript about a meeting with tax officials from Australia and Wright. The email included a signature of Satoshi Nakamoto and the number of Wright.

“This matter is unrelated to recent media reporting regarding the digital currency Bitcoin”.

The lengthy investigative piece includes posts from Wright’s blog that prove he had been announcing the bitcoin even before the world was presented with the new alternative and decentralised currency.

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym of the person or group of people who authored the paper, protocol and software that gave rise to bitcoin.

At the time of publication, bitcoin’s price had risen to over $420, which it the highest the cryptocurrency has been since September 2014.

In March previous year, American Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto denied he was the inventor after Newsweek published a 4,500-word cover story linking the currency to him.

Wired, however, was able to come up with substantial evidence that supports the fact that Nakamoto is Wright.

A Reuters investigation in October found that Australian businesses were turning their backs on bitcoin as the banks’ move accelerated a trend by mainstream businesses to drop the currency. In 2013, Wright started a company called HotWire, which was funded by approximately $23 million in bitcoins owned by Wright that are now worth approximately $60 million.