UPDATE 1/15/19 1730 UTC: This article has been modified to reflect the fact that the contempo filing refers to Wright having provided a list of wallet addresses rather than the individual keys that would give him access to their contents.

Craig Wright, the polarizing figure who may or may not be Satoshi Nakamoto, is today telling the court that he has received the public keys associated an $8.nine billion crypto fortune called the Tulip Trust.

Some background on what that ways: Wright was a business organisation partner to one David Kleiman, and they mined a lot of Bitcoin together back when that was an easier affair to exercise. The pair concluded upward with i.i million Bitcoin in their custody, and that stash is known as the "Tulip Trust" in reference to the tulip bubble that took the Netherlands past storm in the 17th century.

Kleiman passed abroad in 2022, and the law is clear that half of the business organisation' assets should become to Kleiman's manor. Only this never happened, and then Kleiman'southward surviving brother is suing Wright for the estate'southward share.

A complicated and contentious court case

A 2022 investigation pointed to Wright and Kleiman as the possible inventors of Bitcoin, and reporters surfaced a draft of a contract that described the existence of the trust and finer grants all of information technology to Wright. This moved David Kleiman'south brother Ira to launch the suit in February 2022.

Information technology was a long and fatigued out procedure for the legal organization to identify where Wright was storing his crypto assets, and Wright was ultimately found in contempt of court last year for declining to supply a list of any BTC holdings he acquired before Dec 31, 2022. Wright so received a courtroom order on January 10, 2022 calling for him to effectively open the kimono on the Tulip Trust.

He was granted until February three, 2022 to provide the keys to the Tulip Trust on the rationale that the public keys needed to be delivered by a bonded courier sometime in January.

Information technology appears the keys have arrived

Wright has now filed paperwork demonstrating his compliance with the court order:

Dr. Wright notifies the Court that a third party has provided the necessary information and key slice to unlock the encrypted file, and Dr. Wright has produced a listing of his bitcoin holdings, as ordered by the Magistrate Guess, to plaintiffs today.

This is a big bargain if it's really true. It could easily help Wright proceed his "I'thou Satoshi" schtick and win him some converts.

Simply if it'southward less than totally true, information technology would but be the latest weird, reality-bending twist in Wright'south already surreal and controversial story.

In whatever case, that's what Wright told courts today: he has the public keys associated with billions in crypto.

Bitcoin SV soars on the news

Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, a Wright-led fork of Bitcoin Cash that purports to more closely adhere to the anonymous Bitcoin creator's truthful ideas about cryptocurrency, surged today. The currency opened the day'due south trading at $193.99 and rose as loftier every bit $447.xiii before settling around $388.

With the mean solar day'due south gains budgeted 100%, this has some calling Wright's tactics a directly-upwards go out scam.