Police raid Sydney home of man said to be behind bitcoin

Australian police have reportedly raided the Sydney home of the man named by Wired magazine as the likely creator of cryptocurrency bitcoin.

According to Reuters, police officers raided a house registered to Craig Steven Wright in a suburb on Sydney’s north shore.

The police raids came just hours after Wired magazine and technology website Gizmodo said their investigations showed that entrepreneur and academic Wright was likely to be the man behind the creation of bitcoin.

Their investigations were based on leaked emails and web archives.

Wire magazine said: "Despite a massive trove of evidence, we still can't say with absolute certainty that the mystery is solved.

"Either Wright invented bitcoin, or he's a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did."

Wright is the chief executive of Australian-registered DeMorgan Ltd, described on his Linkedin page as "a pre-IPO Australian listed company focused on alternative currency".

The Australian Federal Police said in a statement that the officers' presence at Wright's house was not linked to media reporting overnight about bitcoins.

The AFP referred all inquiries about the raids to the Australian Tax Office, which seemed to suggest it could be related to tax issues.