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Craig Wright wins court battle for bitcoin fortune

Craig Wright wins court battle for bitcoin fortune

Craig Wright, the self-declared inventor of bitcoin, is claiming victory in a civil lawsuit filed against him by the family of a dead business partner, despite being ordered to pay $100 million in damages.

Australian Wright, who in 2016 said he was the mysterious bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, was sued in Miami by the family of Dave Kleiman, a former business partner.

The suit argued that Kleinman and Wright were close friends who co-created bitcoin. The dead man's estate was therefore owed, it said, half of the 1.1 million bitcoins mined by Nakamoto - a cache currently worth more than $50 billion.

The jury did award $100 million in intellectual property rights to a joint venture between the two men. Kleinman died in 2013.

Wright responded to the verdict in a video message, saying: "This has been a remarkably good outcome and I feel completely vindicated."

Wright made his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto more than five years ago but has failed to convince many in the community.

He initially promised to prove himself by transferring some bitcoins from "block 9" by using a private key understood to be known only to Satoshi. However, he reneged and the 1.1 million bitcoins mined by Nakamoto have remained untouched ever since.

He has said that if he were to win the trial he would finally prove his ownership.

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