Bitcoin.org operator Cøbra must start paying Craig Wright's legal fees to remain anonymous

The website owner lost an appeal against a ruling that said he could not dispute the attorney fees of the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin while remaining anonymous.

A London court on Monday upheld a ruling that the administrator of the Bitcoin.org website must reveal his identity to avoid legal fees from plaintiff Craig Wright.

Wright claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto

Wright claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. He accused Bitcoin.org of infringing on his copyrights by publishing the whitepaper. After Cøbra failed to show up in court, a judge ordered that the whitepaper be removed from the website. The judge rejected an attempt to challenge Wright's request for payment of legal fees in the amount of US$704,500). The judge stated that Cøbra had to identify himself to challenge the costs. Cøbra appealed.

"Unfortunately, the court's rules allowed me to litigate under a pseudonym, but I could not defend myself under a pseudonym. So I was in the impossible situation of losing my privacy or losing the case in a default judgment," zei Cøbra in 2021.

"They undermine the principles of natural justice" because they "wished to remain anonymous not only to the public, but also to the plaintiff and the court," said the judge concerned, who dismissed the appeal Monday.

Not the first time for Wright

Wright has taken repeated action against Bitcoin developers in the past. The court gives him the opportunity to make anonymous developers face a choice: give up their privacy or risk high fees.