Bitcoin ‘founder’ Wright’s home raided by Australian police -9 th December 2015

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Two technology news websites have identified Australian businessman Craig Wright as Bitcoin creator ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’.

Both publications believe that leaked transcripts of legal interviews and files show that Wright played a major part in the development of the virtual currency that is used widely in the gambling industry, although sources close to the Australian suggested Gizmodo and Wired have become the victims of a hoax.

Just hours after publication of the claims, police raided Wright’s home, although the authorities said in a statement that the searches were “unrelated” to the articles.

Bitcoin was founded in 2009 by someone operating under the pseudonym of ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, although their real identity has never been revealed.

Documents published by Gizmodo appear to show records of an interview with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) about Wright’s affairs during which his Bitcoin holdings are discussed at length.

In the interview, the person that the transcript names as Wright said: “I did my best to try and hide the fact that I’ve been running Bitcoin since 2009 but I think it’s getting – most – most – by the end of this half the world is going to bloody know.”

The Guardian, which followed up the claims, said it has not been able to verify the authenticity of the transcripts, while an ATO spokeswoman told the newspaper that she could not confirm if the meetings took place due to confidentiality regulations.

Although the transcript does not state if Wright is the founder of Bitcoin, other emails Gizmodo claim are from the entrepreneur suggest he may have had more involvement in the virtual currency’s development.

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.

Another email published by Gizmodo from 2008 attributes to Wright a comment where he supposedly said: “I have been working on a new form electronic money. Bit cash, bit coin…”

The emails published by Gizmodo cannot be verified, while comment has been sought from further sources to clarify the ongoing case.