Craig Wright, self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor, is reportedly being sued for $5 billion in bitcoin and other assets by the estate of a now deceased former business partner, David Kleiman.

Kleiman’s brother Ira filed the lawsuit in Florida.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

According to details of the lawsuit published by Bloomberg, Wright and Kleiman had worked together on early development of bitcoin. The pair formed W&K Info Defence Research in 2011 to mine the cryptocurrency.

The suit seeks the return of bitcoin worth over $5 billion.

A summons for Wright was reportedly issued on 15 February.

What was said:

Wright’s only public response to the allegations contained in the suit was a one-word tweet that said “greed”.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Background:

In 2016, Craig Wright revealed himself as the inventor of cryptocurrency bitcoin known publically as Satoshi Nakamoto to the BBC, the Economist and GQ.

He provided technical proof to support these claims. He digitally signed messages using cryptographic keys created during the early days of bitcoin’s development to send the cryptocurrency to Hal Finney one of the other early developers.

His claim was corroborated by high profile members of the Bitcoin Foundation.

But members of the Bitcoin community remained unconvinced by his evidence and declared it was a scam.

Some argued that the evidence he used was manufactured years after 2008 when the cryptocurrency was in its early stages of development.

Wright decided to not publish the further evidence he had said he would and withdrew from the media spotlight.

The lawsuit does not discuss Wright or Kleiman’s role in the creation of bitcoin. It read:

It is unclear whether Craig, Dave and/or both created bitcoin.

For reasons not yet completed clear, they chose to keep their involvement in bitcoin hidden from most of their family and friends.