‘Craig Wright Is Not Satoshi Nakamoto’: Drama Inspires Bitcoin Banger

For years, Australian computer scientist Craig Wright has attempted, relatively unsuccessfully, to convince the world (and numerous courts of law) that he is in fact Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. Now, the years-long saga has inspired a song—the fairly unsubtle single “Craig Wright Is Not Satoshi,” from the musician Jonathan Mann. 

“Craig Wright is not Satoshi,” the song’s jubilant, guitar-backed chorus repeats no less than six times, before adding the upbeat refrain: “Craig Wright is a liar.”

Mann, who is perhaps better known as the “Song-a-Day” man, has written and recorded a new song once a day, every day for the last 15 years. He is currently the Guinness World Record holder for most consecutive days spent writing a song. For the last couple years, he has also been selling those daily songs via NFTs.

Tuesday’s song, which focuses exclusively on Wright’s disputed claims to the Bitcoin legacy, was also available for purchase as a single-edition NFT. After four bids, the song was auctioned off Wednesday for 0.12 ETH, equivalent to just over $198 at writing. 

Though Wright has claimed to be Bitcoin’s still-unverified creator for years, the saga was reanimated Tuesday when the Twitter account @satoshi posted for the first time in five years. Numerous industry leaders, including Christian Ager-Hanssen, the former CEO of nChain, Wright’s blockchain company, condemned the post as yet another attempt by Wright to imitate the real Satoshi without merit.

Over the weekend, Ager-Hanssen resigned as nChain’s CEO, after claiming to have seen evidence that Wright had “manipulated documents” to create the false impression that he created Bitcoin. Wright has never been able to produce the private keys to Satoshi’s Bitcoin address, practically the only surefire way to prove his assertions. 

Mann’s song touches on these latest updates in one of the last verses of his catchy, Wright-themed jingle. 

“Just because he has the handle/Doesn’t mean he is Satoshi,” Mann sings over acoustic guitar and drums. “He’s just some Australian guy/Who’s probably gonna sue me.”