Craig Wright Sentenced to Prison for Contempt of Court

Craig Wright, who claims to be the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, has been sentenced to two years in prison for contempt of court.

The Australian computer scientist received a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, according to multiple news reports. This ruling follows Wright's initiation of a £900 billion "legal claim" involving intellectual property, which spurred the contempt proceedings, as reported by The Independent.

Wright appeared via video link, opting not to disclose his physical location, but expressed intentions to appeal, as noted by The Guardian.

In March, a U.K. judge ruled that Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto. The case against him was initiated by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) in an effort to prevent him from making copyright claims over the Bitcoin whitepaper and database. During the proceedings, notable figures in Bitcoin's development, including Adam Back, the pioneer of Bitcoin's proof-of-work consensus system, testified.

Additionally, it’s speculated that Nakamoto could own up to 1.1 million bitcoins, coinciding with a recent surge in bitcoin’s price, reaching a new high of $106,000 over the past month.