Syed Rahman outlines a case where a defendant is alleged to have said he was the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto.
A British businessman is accused of falsely claiming to be the inventor of Bitcoin.
In a private prosecution alleging crypto fraud, 58-year-old Stephen Mollah is said to have posed as Satoshi Nakamoto - the so-far unidentified founder of the digital currency -, and to have claimed to own 165,000 Bitcoin in Singapore.
He faces a criminal trial alongside 57-year-old fellow Briton Charles Anderson. Both are accused of fraud between November 2022 and October last year in the private prosecution brought by their alleged victim, Dalmit Dohil. They have pleaded not guilty to a charge of fraud by false representation at a hearing at Inner London Crown Court and a trial is set for November next year.
According to the charge, the men “dishonestly” claimed that “Stephen Mollah was Satoshi Nakamoto who is believed to have created Bitcoin and/or that Stephen Mollah owned 165,000 Bitcoin that were in Singapore, intending to cause loss to Dalmit Dohil or to expose that person to a risk of loss.”
The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has been the subject of massive speculation since Bitcoin was created 15 years ago. Canadian developer Peter Todd has recently denied being Satoshi, following a television documentary by HBO that claimed to have identified Bitcoin’s creator. Six months ago, the High Court ruled that Australian computer scientist Dr Craig Wright was not the inventor of Bitcoin.
The high value that is associated with Nakamoto’s reputation means it is possible for someone to claim to be the Bitcoin inventor in order to mislead investors. Bitcoin’s pseudonymous structure does affect the crypto markets significantly. While it enables privacy – and anonymity is important for the crypto market – it also leaves room for exploitation, as seen in this case.
If this case results in a conviction, it will be a useful example for future prosecutions relating to fraudulent claims tied to pseudonymous digital identities.
The case reinforces the need for due diligence in crypto investments - and signals that legal accountability applies even in a highly-decentralised market. It is also worth noting the regulatory responses worldwide, with markets evolving toward transparency measures such as “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements to prevent misuse.
