Wired outs Bitcoin ‘creator’ – and the Australian cops come calling

As we reported yesterday here at NewsBTC, the hot new rumor in the Bitcoin space is that a relative unknown, Craig Steven Wright, may be Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of the digital currency Bitcoin.

Identified by leaked interviews with Gizmodo and Wired, Wright is believed to be part of the early development of BitCoin and could be, or have connections to, its elusive founder Satoshi Nakamoto.

Federal police searched Craig Steven Wright’s properties, but said the raid was about tax, not Bitcoin.

The AFP referred all inquiries about the raid to the Australian Tax Office, who told Daily Mail Australia they were not willing to comment on the raid.

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 article will be updated later today.

Police have raided the Sydney home of a man named by Wired as the likely creator of bitcoin.

Previous investigations into the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto have been attempted by the New Yorker, Fast Company and Newsweek.

The Wired and Gizmodo reports suggest Wright and USA computer expert Dave Kleiman, who died in 2013, developed Bitcoin together.

However, the magazine said their proof was not conclusive: “Despite a massive trove of evidence, we still can’t say with absolute certainty that the mystery is solved”.

Among his other interests, Wright is the CEO of DeMorgan Ltd, a company which bills itself as “focused on alternative currency, next generation banking and reputational and educational products with a focus on security and creating a simple user experience”.

The documents published on Gizmodo have not been independently verified by the ABC, and while they don’t necessarily prove that Dr Wright is the creator of bitcoin, in his own words he has been involved with the digital currency for a long time.

Tsvetnenko said Wright was not only adamant that the cybercurrency’s protocol “should be adopted and built up” but he also made a little joke about Bitcoin.

The Internal Revenue Service ruled a year ago to treat virtual currencies as property, meaning profits get taxed at the capital-gains rate.

This “evidence” includes a whitepaper Wright published on his personal in 2008 outlining his plans to publish a cryptocurrency paper.

One email sent to Clayton Utz, Wright’s lawyer in the ATO transcripts, was sent from an address linked to Nakamoto and signed ‘Craig (possibly)’, and discussed making contact with the Australian government over national regulations for Bitcoin.