CRAIG Wright claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin.
But what is the story behind the Australian computer scientist and what’s his net worth?
Who is Craig Wright?
Craig Wright was born in Australia in 1970 and claims to have in excess of 20 academic degrees and certificates.
These include Master’s degrees in quantitative finance from University of London-SOAS, law from the University of Northumbria, statistics from the University of Newcastle, Australia, information security systems from Charles Sturt University, network & systems administration also from Charles Sturt University), IT management also from Charles Sturt University) IS engineering from Sans Technology Institute, and political science from Liberty University.
He also claims to have received a doctorate in business administration from Grand Canyon University and a PhD from Charles Sturt University along with a doctorate in theology from United Theological College.
He has lectured in computer science at Charles Sturt University, authored a number of articles, academic papers, and books, and been a public speaker at conferences on subjects from IT to Bitcoin.
Wright claims to have also held senior executive positions at a number of digital currency companies.
He also worked on technology systems which protected the Australian Stock Exchange and trained the Australian government and corporate departments in SCADA security, cyber warfare, and cyber defense.
Wright also helped design the architecture for the world’s first online casino – Lasseter’s Online in Australia.
Wright currently works as chief scientist at nChain Inc, a blockchain research and development company.
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Is Craig Wright Satoshi Nakamoto?
The identity of Bitcoin’s creator remains a mystery, despite Wright’s claims he was involved in Bitcoin’s creation along with his friend, Dave Kleiman who is now deceased.
He made the claim after Wired magazine said he could be Nakamoto in an article in December 2015.
The article included quotes from numerous sources and included Wright’s email correspondence and chat transcripts with acquaintances.
Craig Wright told a court he “stomped on the hard drive” that contained the “key slices” required to give him access to Satoshi Nakamoto’s private keys, making it “incredibly difficult” to cryptographically prove he is the creator of Bitcoin.
Wright previously attempted to prove he was Satoshi in 2016 by demonstrating “proof” that he controlled Satoshi’s private keys – first, in private “signing sessions” with Bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen and former Bitcoin Foundation Director Jon Matonis and later, in a public blog post offering “proof”.
This was, however, debunked by a number of well-known cryptography experts.
What is Craig Wright’s net worth?
Wright has been verified to hold around 1.1 million Bitcoins, making him worth more than $20 billion.
