Australian police raid home of reported cryptocurrency creator

[Bitcoin]

Is this bitcoin’s father? Australian police raid home of reported cryptocurrency creator

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 09 December, 2015, 12:59pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 09 December, 2015, 1:13pm

Reuters in Sydney

Craig Stephen Wright in an image taken from a video appearance at a bitcoin conference in Las Vegas in October. Wright, who appeared via video link, said he was in London. Photo: YouTube

Australian Federal Police have raided the Sydney home of a man named by Wired magazine as the probable creator of cryptocurrency bitcoin.

The property is registered under the Australian electoral roll to Craig Steven Wright, whom Wired outed as the likely real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous figure that first released bitcoin’s code in 2009.

More than a dozen federal police officers entered the house, on Sydney's north shore, on Wednesday after locksmiths broke open the door. When asked what they were doing, one officer told a Reuters reporter that they were “clearing the house”.

WATCH: Bitcoin's possible creator Craig Stephen Wright



The Australian Federal Police said in a statement that the officers‘ “presence at Mr Wright's property is not associated with the media reporting overnight about bitcoins”.

The AFP referred all inquiries about the raid to the Australian Tax Office, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The police raid in Australia came hours after Wired magazine and technology website Gizmodo published articles saying that their investigations showed Wright, who they said was an Australian academic, was probably the secretive bitcoin creator.

Their investigations were based on leaked emails, documents and web archives, including what was said to be a transcript of a meeting between Wright and Australian tax officials.

In a YouTube video posted last month, Wright is seen participating in a Las Vegas bitcoin investor conference. Wright appeared at the October 29 event via a video link, and said he was in London at the time.

Asked by the moderator to describe how he first heard of bitcoin, Wright says: "I've been involved with this a long time. I try and stay...I keep my head down"

The moderator then asks if he is a bitcoin miner. Wright responds: "A long time ago".

Craig Stephen Wright's profile picture on a now-defunct Twitter account. Photo: Twitter

The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has long been a mystery journalists and bitcoin enthusiasts have tried to unravel.

He, she or a group of people is the author of the paper, protocol and software that gave rise to the cryptocurrency. The New York Times, Newsweek and other publications have guessed at Nakamoto's real identity, but none has proved conclusive.

Uncovering the identity would be significant, not just to solving a long-standing riddle, but for the future of the currency.

And as an early miner of bitcoins, Nakamoto is also sitting on about 1 million bitcoins, worth more than US$400 million at present exchange rates, according to bitcoin expert Sergio Demian Lerner.