Picture: Gizmodo

Craig Wright, the Sydney entrepreneur rumoured to be the creator of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, tried to buy around $85 million worth of gold with the digital currency in 2013, according to The Australian.

A Federal Court claim revealed Wright allegedly attempted a deal with Perth businessman Mark Ferrier to buy tens of millions of dollars worth of gold and software with Bitcoins to help build his new businesses.

The documents revealed that Wright, who is still yet to claim to be Bitcoin creator “Satoshi Nakamoto”, told Ferrier he had at least $100m worth of Bitcoin in his digital wallet he could use to pay with.

The deal itself ended up turning sour, and Wright tried to sue Ferrier for the entire amount gold he tried to buy with Bitcoin, $84.42m in the Federal Court. Wright dropped the case in March last year.

The pair met in 2013 at a mining conference. A deal was then struck where Ferrier would supply software from tech giant Siemens and banking software from Saudi Arabian financial institution Dallah Al-Baraka Group. The idea was Ferrier would buy this software for his mining company, MJF Mining and then share it with Wright.

Ferrier then allegedly told Wright to invest his Bitcoins in gold from ASX-listed gold company Paynes Find Gold. After Wright had paid his Bitcoins for the software and gold, all the deals began to go belly up and Ferrier was arrested.

The fact that Wright was in possession of so many Bitcoins in 2013 is one of the key reasons he is believed to be the founder of the digital currency. The 380,203 Bitcoins Wright paid to Ferrier was worth nearly 5% of all existing Bitcoins in 2013.

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