The Bitcoin white paper has been reinstated on the Bitcoin.org website after Craig Wright's legal efforts to prove he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, failed. Despite this reinstatement, UK-based users still face restrictions due to ongoing legal constraints.

In 2021, Wright successfully sued Cobra, the anonymous group that maintained the Bitcoin.org website, for copyright infringement. Cobra chose not to defend the case, leading to a default judgment in Wright’s favor. Consequently, Bitcoin.org was ordered to remove the white paper PDF and pay Wright £35,000 (approximately $40,100) in legal fees. Wright had filed for U.S. copyright registration of the Bitcoin white paper in 2019.

Following Wright's unsuccessful attempt to substantiate his claim as Satoshi Nakamoto, Hennadii Stepanov, the current maintainer of Bitcoin.org, announced the white paper's return by sharing a link to the PDF on the social media platform X. Although the white paper is accessible again, UK-based users encounter a quote from Nakamoto instead of the document due to the standing legal restrictions: "It takes advantage of the nature of information being easy to spread but hard to stifle."

Wright's broader legal campaign included suing 13 Bitcoin Core developers and companies such as Blockstream, Coinbase, and Block for alleged copyright violations related to the Bitcoin white paper and the Bitcoin blockchain's database rights. These actions were criticized by the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, which highlighted the detrimental impact of such lawsuits on the Bitcoin development community.

However, Wright's copyright victory has been undermined by a decisive ruling from the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). COPA, a coalition formed to protect Bitcoin's intellectual property, accused Wright of fabricating evidence to support his claim of being Nakamoto. The ruling effectively invalidated Wright’s copyright claims.

Additionally, Wright's assets worth £6.7 million ($8.4 million) have been frozen by a UK court to prevent him from evading court-related expenses.

The Bitcoin white paper is now available under an MIT open-source license, which allows for unrestricted reuse and modification of the code. This development ensures that the white paper remains freely accessible and can be utilized by anyone for any purpose, reinforcing the open-source ethos of the Bitcoin community.

Despite the legal battles and ongoing restrictions in the UK, the reinstatement of the white paper on Bitcoin.org symbolizes a significant victory for the Bitcoin community and its commitment to transparency and open access. The case highlights the ongoing challenges and legal complexities in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency and intellectual property rights.