Self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor’s $2.5 billion lawsuit may go to trial – in court in London

LONDON (Reuters) – The lawsuit of the self-proclaimed BitcoinCreator Craig Wright against Bitcoin network developers to try to recover billions of dollars may continue in court, a London court said on Friday.

The ruling paves the way for a lawsuit over whether developers owe duties to digital asset owners — which a lawyer representing some developers said could pose a fundamental challenge to decentralized finance if Wright wins.

Australian computer scientist Wright is suing 15 developers in an effort to retrieve around 111,000 bitcoin – currently worth about $2.5 billion – after he lost the encrypted keys to access it when his home computer network was allegedly hacked .

Wright’s Seychelles-based company Tulip Trading is taking legal action against the developers of three networks, arguing that they are required to write software patches to help Tulip recover bitcoin.

Tulip’s case was dismissed last year, but the appeals court ruled on Friday that the developers appear to owe duties to the owners, which should be decided in a full trial.

Judge Colin Birss said Tulip had a realistic argument that cryptocurrency Network developers are “trusted” who may therefore be required, for example, to “introduce code so that an owner’s bitcoin can be brought to safety.”

Wright says he wrote the Bitcoin whitepaper that first outlined the technology behind the digital assets in 2008 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, but the claim has been hotly disputed.

He said in a statement that he was pleased with the verdict.

His attorney, Felicity Potter, said the decision was “a step toward a properly regulated and well-governed digital asset ecosystem that should be welcomed by prospective and current coin-holders alike.”

James Ramsden, a lawyer representing 13 of the 14 developers involved in the appeal, told Reuters that code writers are “incredibly nervous” about the case, which could leave them liable for enormous amounts of money if Wright wins.

He added that the outcome of any process “will affect all aspects of[decentralized finance]whether it’s tokens or NFTs (non-fungible brands) or the wider Blockchainsystem acts”.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Sharon Singleton)