Craig Wright is once again in the public spotlight as a private equity firm acquired a company associated with him this past week.
Wright has been a controversial figure in the Bitcoin community with the unsupported claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the supposed inventor of Bitcoin.
According to a report by Reuters, nChain Holdings was sold to private equity firm SICAV, PLC in what may be the biggest acquisition related to Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
nChain Holdings is a group of companies that are based on blockchain technology.
The organization boasts of a team of more than 60 scientific researchers and other personnel based in several countries.
These claims are still unconfirmed as information regarding the team members in unavailable on the company's website, though.
Arthur Davis, the Director and company representative, said that the organization prefers to keep its operations secret, adding that the firm is working on changing this confidentiality policy.
The private equity firm is an EU-regulated fund based in Malta.
It is overseen by Accuro Fund Solutions, a subsidiary of Accuro Group.
SICAV announced the acquisition in a press release and claimed that it is currently the largest involving blockchain technology.
They provided no information regarding the value of the deal.
Reuters, however, reported that a source close to the deal disclosed that SICAV invested $300 million in nChain Holdings.
If this claim is confirmed, it will be well above the investment attracted by 21 Inc., which is officially the largest acquisition associated with Bitcoin to date.
nChain confirmed that acquisition was completed through fiat currency, but declined to disclose the amount.
The organization stated that the investment injection would ensure the firm has the necessary resources to achieve its objectives of the development of blockchain tech to facilitate worldwide adoption.
According to UK records, nChain has filed over 80 patents related to Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
Some of these patents have been filed under the company's previous name, EITC Holdings.
The April 13 announcement was the first time the company has publicly acknowledged that it is filing patents, which range from medical document storage solutions to Wi-Fi security.
The relationship between nChain and Craig Wright is based on patent holdings.
The company stated that the 46-year-old Australian serves as their Chief Scientist.
nChain currently owns Wright's patent holdings, which include patents based on Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
Wright sold the patent holdings to the firm for an undisclosed amount.
In an email response, the firm stated that Craig Wright has never been a shareholder or director in any of the nChain-affiliated companies.
In addition, the firm forwarded its thoughts on the pseudonymous founder of Bitcoin, stating that Satoshi Nakamoto will always remain a pseudonymous myth.
Although the Bitcoin community was not convinced by Wright's claims to the pseudonym, his contributions to the cryptocurrency cannot be understated.
He was involved considerably in the early stages of Bitcoin development and supports mainstream adoption of the virtual currency.
According to the Reuters report, Wright allegedly informed tax officials in Australia that he owned over one million in Bitcoin.
At the current exchange rate, this is equivalent to approximately $1.2 billion.
It would seem that Wright seeks to play an important role in the future development of Bitcoin and blockchain tech.
His statement stating that he would never dump Bitcoin indicates a personal stake in the cryptocurrency.
He touched on the availability of resources such as funds, workforce, and technology that will ensure Bitcoin realized unprecedented adoption globally.
nChain's efforts seem to be in line with this objective.
The organization stated that it is also developing applications and software that will facilitate scalable blockchain growth.
The firm hopes to achieve this while maintaining the decentralization benefits of blockchain technology.
It will also be advocating for the formation of neutral and technical standards bodies catering to the blockchain.
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