Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright and a bitcoin mystery in America

In Budapest, there is a bust by the Danube River. The face is bronze, and blank, so people can see their own faces reflected back at them. It is wearing a hoodie, with the bitcoin logo on the chest.

It is a statue of the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto is the person or persons who developed bitcoin. They are anonymous and pseudonymous.

You may have heard about Australian Craig Wright, who has been in the news recently thanks to a court case in the US.

Wright is an influential entrepreneur. He might be Nakamoto. But he also might not. It is a mystery he could, in theory, solve in seconds (more of that later).

This week Wright was fighting claims from the family of his deceased business partner, David Kleiman, that the pair co-created bitcoin. Therefore, they argued, half of more than $50bn of the original bitcoin belonged to them.

Wright says he is Nakamoto, and Nakamoto is accepted as the creator of bitcoin. And to prove he is Nakamoto, Wright needs to show he controls some of those original bitcoin.

Bitcoin expert Dr David Glance, a University of Western Australia computer scientist, says such a feat would be akin to King Arthur pulling Excalibur from stone. A proof of rightful ownership.

Earlier this year the New York Times reported that as much as $140bn worth of bitcoin is lost to people who have forgotten or misplaced their keys. A UK man, Stefan Thomas, is one person who forgot his password, which would unlock hundreds of millions of dollars.

That person then has the key to that bitcoin.

Up until 2010, Nakamato was active online, discussing the development of bitcoin.

Nakamoto shared plenty of their work, then went to ground just over a decade ago, only to pop up occasionally.

The Guardian reported the email discussed the possibility of lobbying then Australian senator Arthur Sinodinos about bitcoin regulation.

Other names have been bandied about, including that of entrepreneur Elon Musk, whose tweets about cryptocurrency have the ability to see its value rise and fall.(Musk denied it.)

Glance says whoever Nakamoto is, it is someone who has mined a lot of the early bitcoin, which now just sits there on the blockchain, gathering metaphorical digital dust.

Wright is a computer scientist.

A 2015 Guardian article points to his LinkedIn page, which shows he has a PhD from Charles Sturt University, and a host of other academic qualifications. He was involved in various computer firms, and was the director of more than a dozen companies.

He has had his share of previous legal trouble, and in 2016 his rented Sydney home was raided by the Australian federal police in a tax-related matter. At the time a police spokesperson said it was not related to any claims he was behind bitcoin.

He was reportedly moving to London with his wife.

That 1.1m bitcoin is now worth about $50bn.

Many banks are starting to offer cryptocurrency trades, which is unsurprising considering the interest in them, but also seemingly contradicts the notion of having a currency that bypasses financial institutions.

It has, however, found a couple of niches.

The other reason he steers clear is the environmental impact needed for the immense computer power that creates it.

Or sent them bust.