Due to its structure, all transactions of Bitcoin are public and the 1.1 million Bitcoin in question have remained untouched since their creation. Wright’s claim that he is Nakamoto has been met with skepticism from a sizeable portion of the cryptocurrency community. The name Nakamoto, roughly translated from Japanese to mean “at the center of,” was never considered to be the real name of Bitcoin’s creator. Mining for the currency, which involves computers solving mathematical equations, began a few months later. In October 2008 during the height of the financial crisis, a person or group of people going by the name “Satoshi Nakamoto” published a paper laying out a framework for a digital currency that would not be tied to any legal or sovereign authority. At one point the jurors signaled to the judge that they were deadlocked.īitcoin’s origins have always been a bit of a mystery, which is why this trial has drawn so much attention from outsiders. Jurors took a full week to deliberate, repeatedly asking questions of lawyers on both sides as well as the judge on how cryptocurrencies work as well as the business relationship between the two men.

The case tried in federal court in Miami was highly technical, with the jury listening to explanations of the intricate workings of cryptocurrencies as well as the murky origins of how Bitcoin came to be. Doing so would lend credence to Wright’s claim, first made in 2016, that he is Nakamoto. Now the cryptocurrency community will be looking to see if Wright follows through on his promise to prove he is the owner of the Bitcoin. These were among the first Bitcoin to be created through mining and could only be owned by a person or entity involved with the digital currency from its beginning - such as Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

At the center of the trial were 1.1 million Bitcoin, worth approximately $50 billion based on Monday’s prices.

Blockchain wallet $50