By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A pc scientist who has claimed to be the inventor of bitcoin largely prevailed on Monday in a Florida jury trial over whether or not the property of a former enterprise accomplice deserved half of a bitcoin cache value now about $54 billion.

The Miami jury cleared Craig Wright on almost all points within the dispute, together with that half of the 1.1 million bitcoin in dispute belonged to the household of Dave Kleiman, the previous accomplice and pc forensics knowledgeable.

Whereas concluding that Wright was not chargeable for fraud, jurors did award $100 million in mental property rights to W&Ok Data Protection Analysis LLC, a three way partnership between the boys. The trial started on Nov. 1.

“This has been a outstanding good final result and I really feel fully vindicated,” Wright mentioned in a video message. “There are nonetheless extra fights. We’re going to make all the things change: cryptocurrency to digital money the way in which it is meant to be.”

In accordance with courtroom papers, the 1.1 million bitcoin had been mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, whose October 2008 white paper “: A Peer-to-Peer Digital Money System” described a framework for what would develop into bitcoin.

Wright claimed in 2016 that he was Nakamoto, which was a pseudonym. The declare has been disputed.

Kleiman’s household contended that he and Wright had been buddies and enterprise companions, however that Wright stole the bitcoin stemming from their relationship.

In an announcement, legal professionals for W&Ok and Kleiman’s property mentioned they had been “immensely gratified” that the jury awarded the $100 million in mental property rights, and assist give the Kleimans “their justifiable share of what Dave helped create.”

Dave Kleiman died in April 2013.

The Australia-born Wright, who later moved to London, in Could sued https://www.reuters.com/expertise/australias-wright-launches-lawsuit-over-57-bln-bitcoin-haul-2021-05-12 16 software program builders to safe round 111,000 bitcoin now value about $5.4 billion that he claimed he owns.