Man believed to be bitcoin creator gets home raided in Sydney

Australian police raided the Sydney home and office of a man named by Wired magazine as the probable creator of bitcoin and holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency.

More than a dozen police officers entered a house registered to Craig Steven Wright, whom Wired outed as the likely real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous figure that first released bitcoin’s code in 2009.

The searches were related to a tax investigation, not recent media reports on the virtual currency, according to a statement from the Australian Federal Police.

Locksmiths broke open the door of the property, in a suburb on Sydney’s north shore.

When asked what they were doing, one officer told a Reuters reporter they were “clearing the house”.

Several police officers could be seen speaking with workers inside.

The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has long been a mystery that journalists and bitcoin enthusiasts have tried to unravel.

The police raids in Australia came hours after Wired magazine and technology website Gizmodo published articles saying their investigations showed Wright, an entrepreneur and academic, was most probably the secretive bitcoin creator.

Wright is chief executive of Australian-registered DeMorgan Ltd, which he describes on his Linkedin page as “a pre-IPO Australian listed company focused on alternative currency”.

The Australian Federal Police said in a statement that the officers’ “presence at Mr Wright’s property is not associated with the media reporting overnight about bitcoins”.

The police referred all inquiries about the raids to the Australian Tax Office, which said it could not comment on “any individual’s or entity’s tax affairs” due to legal confidentiality.

Emails to various addresses listed for Wright did not receive a reply.

The Wired and Gizmodo investigations were based on leaked emails, documents, and web archives, including what was said to be a transcript of a meeting between Wright and Australian tax officials.

“Either Wright invented bitcoin, or he’s a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did,” Wired said.

A man who identified himself as the owner of Wright’s rented house, Garry Hayres, said Wright and his family had lived there for a year, and were due to leave on December 22 to move to Britain.