London | Australian computer scientist and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Craig Wright, who spent almost a decade claiming to be bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto and suing people who said otherwise, could face up to two years’ jail in the UK for allegedly breaching a court order.

Dr Wright was supposed to be in a London court on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) to defend contempt-of-court allegations made by his chief nemesis, the Crypto Open Patent Alliance. But just an hour before the case began, he emailed COPA’s lawyers to say he was staying put abroad, apparently in Singapore or Indonesia.