Amid the speculation, bitcoin climbed on Wednesday to hit its highest levels since early November. The reports mentioned a legal arrangement that keeps a very large chunk of 1.1 million bitcoins locked up in a trust until 2020. That would remove the risk of a big supply hitting the market anytime soon and driving down the price.

Wired reported that whoever is the real Nakamoto “appears to control a stash of bitcoins easily worth a nine-figure fortune.”

If that person is Wright, he doesn’t appear to have been spending it on an opulent lifestyle. His modest home in the Sydney suburb of Gordon lies in a quiet tree-lined street about 13 kilometers from Sydney’s central business district.


Wireless Hacking


Police raided the house on Wednesday as they assisted an investigation by the Australian Taxation Office. The raid was unrelated to media reports about Wright’s possible involvement in bitcoin, the police said.

Wright’s LinkedIn profile listed time working for ASX Ltd., operator of Australia’s biggest stock exchange, as well as OzEmail, one of the country’s first Internet service providers. Under education, it shows multiple Master’s degrees, a PhD in computer science and a doctorate in theology.

A message sent to the profile wasn’t returned and information from the profile such as work history and education has been removed since Wired’s report. The same person is listed as a lecturer at Charles Sturt University, specializing in encryption, cybercrime and wireless hacking. The university’s media office didn’t provide a phone number for Wright’s office and e-mails sent to his university address bounced back.

A woman who answered the phone at DeMorgan on Thursday said neither Wright nor Ramona Watts, reported by Gizmodo to be his wife, were at the office and the company wasn’t interested in talking to anyone. Then she hung up. Watts didn’t return messages left on a mobile-phone number that was listed as hers on the company website.


‘Fabricated Evidence’


While the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has occupied some bitcoin fans, others such as Gregory Maxwell said knowing who started the currency doesn’t matter.