New development in the seminal COPA v Craig Wright case, which seeks to guarantee the long-term freedom of the bitcoin and open-source community

Following a hearing regarding an adjournment application from Craig Wright to delay the COPA v Wright trial by more than a year, the Judge has denied Craig Wright’s request and ruled that the trial will commence on February 5, 2024.

The COPA v Wright trial seeks to disprove the claim made by Wright that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the author of the bitcoin whitepaper and, consequently, the founder of bitcoin. Wright is involved in several lawsuits in the UK - which rely on this claim being true - alleging that multiple organisations and individuals in the crypto community violated his copyright in the bitcoin whitepaper, bitcoin database, and other intellectual property related to the creation of bitcoin. He insists, on that basis, that those organisations and individuals cannot host the bitcoin whitepaper or otherwise use that intellectual property. This claim, in effect, stops the development of bitcoin, chills and silences developers with the threat of litigation, and indeed undermines the entire spirit of the open-source community.

For context on the adjournment application:

• Earlier this year, Craig Wright presented documentation which he claimed proved he is Satoshi Nakamoto.
• COPA served factual and expert evidence over the summer, showing that much of the documentation presented by Wright was inauthentic or forged.
• At a hearing in October 2023, the Court agreed that, on the basis of that evidence, COPA could press its claims of forgery, and COPA provided a shortlist of documents that it will argue at trial were forged by Wright.
• Dr Wright recently claimed to have found new documents which he said would prove his alleged identity. He argued that he could not be ready for the long-scheduled trial because of the need to review them.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Mellor said that he was satisfied that a fair trial could proceed in February.

COPA believes that the case is a matter of public interest and its outcome will create more certainty and reasonable safety for those who have dedicated their professional lives to the world-changing potential of bitcoin.