New documentary, new book — just what is the deal with the Satoshi claimant Wright?

A Canadian gambling mogul who has long backed the Australian computer scientist who claims to have created Bitcoin is funding both a documentary and book

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One thing that has always fascinated me is Craig Wright and his billionaire backer Calvin Ayre.

The credibility of Craig Wright — the Australian tech entrepreneur who controversially claims to be Bitcoin’s pseudonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto — took another blow in May.

That is on top of the criticism he has long received for refusing to provide what the cryptocurrency community would deem proper proof. Yet Wright has never wavered in his claim. And Ayre, a Canadian gambling mogul, has similar bedrock certainty in Wright.

Now Ayre is funding both a documentary and book. A previous book, by a mainstream publisher, was dropped, reportedly due to “threat of litigation,” although unclear from whom.

If that sounds familiar, recall this underrated long read in the London Review of Books by a famous author who spent six months with Wright. The author, Andrew O’Hagan, had originally been hired by Ayre to write an even earlier book on Wright, although the deal fell apart.

Any credible revelation from Ayre’s productions will no doubt rock the cryptocurrency world. The creator controls more than 1 million bitcoins, an amount that will shake the market if moved. Given Bitcoin’s use in illicit markets, governments may also hold Nakamoto responsible.

That identity to which Wright claimed been the greatest mystery of the cryptocurrency world. Wright has long claimed to be the creator, but has failed to provide proof. Wright also allegedly plagiarized his doctoral thesis.

Back in May, after a list of Bitcoin addresses Wright had provided as being his holdings in an ongoing court case were briefly and “inadvertently” made public, 145 of the addresses were used to sign a public message both calling Wright a “fraud” and trying to show he does not in fact own or control them.

The court case is unrelated to Wright’s claim to be Nakamoto, but it has cast further doubt on his credibility.

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