In New Court Filing, Craig Wright Claims to Receive Keys to $9.6B Bitcoin Fortune

Craig Wright, bitcoin’s self-declared creator, says the much anticipated “bonded courier” has arrived. 

According to a court filing to the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida dated Jan. 14, a third party has “provided the necessary information and key slice to unlock the encrypted file,” seemingly referencing the “mysterious,” unnamed intermediary with the private keys necessary to unlock the $9.6 billion bitcoin trove. 

This so-called bonded courier was originally due to arrive Jan. 1, though Wright did not confirm or deny whether this transpired. Wright requested an extension for the intermediary to unlock the encrypted “Tulip Trust” at the heart of the case. 

On Jan. 10, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom granted Wright until Feb. 3 to alert the court of the courier’s arrival. 

The 1.1M bitcoin Tulip Trust is at the center of a bitter dispute between Wright and his now-deceased business partner’s brother, Ira Kleiman. Dave Kleiman is suing Wright, alleging Wright expropriated bitcoin and manipulated documents, emails and other correspondence to defraud his brother’s estate.

Judge Bloom expressed doubt over the bonded courier’s existence and the amount of bitcoin in dispute. Wright was previously held in contempt of court for failing to produce a full list of his bitcoin holdings. He alleged it would be “impossible” to comply with the court order, as his bitcoin was encrypted by the complicated Shamir Secret Sharing Scheme.

We will update this story as it develops.

Read the full filing below: