Bitcoin inventor's true identity may be revealed at $70B Florida lawsuit

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The true identity of Bitcoin's inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, could be revealed in a lawsuit taking place in the US state of Florida, according to reports on Monday.

The family of David Kleiman has claimed that he and his former business partner Craig Wright invented Bitcoin in 2008 by using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Kleiman's family is suing Australian programmer Wright for his share of Nakamoto's assets of around 1.1 million Bitcoins, which are worth more than $70 billion today.

The defense, however, argues that Wright is the sole creator of today's most popular and largest cryptocurrency.

If a jury rules in favor of the Kleiman family, Wright could be forced to present the wallet that holds the 1.1 million Bitcoins. If Wright refuses, or unable to, share the wallet, Nakamoto's identity will remain a mystery.

The true identity of Nakamoto has remained a secret since he had written the white paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" in October 2008 and released the first version of Bitcoin in January 2009.

After working on Bitcoin's development for almost two years, Nakamoto disappeared from communicating in online message boards in December 2010, as the crypto community still wonders whether the inventor is an individual or a group using the pseudonym.