A London judge has sentenced an Australian man who claims to have invented Bitcoin to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, over his decision to launch a US$1.2 trillion ($1.92 trillion) lawsuit.

Computer scientist Craig Wright claimed to have been the author of a 2008 paper considered to be the foundational text of Bitcoin, published under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto.”

In a judgement on Thursday, Judge James Mellor said Wright had committed “a clear breach” of a court order in March that barred him from launching or threatening further legal action related to Bitcoin.

Judge Mellor ruled Wright was not the mysterious creator of the digital currency, nor the author of the initial versions of the Bitcoin software.

At the time, the court found Wright had repeatedly lied and forged documents to support his false claim. 

On Wednesday this week, Wright failed to show up to a hearing over his decision to launch a $1.9 trillion lawsuit against payments company Block, owned by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, according to Reuters.

Lawyers for the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a group of technology and cryptocurrency firms, argued that lawsuit constituted contempt of court as he had been ordered to refrain from making any claims related to Bitcoin.

On Thursday, Judge Mellor ruled that Wright was in contempt of court, sentencing him to one year in prison, suspended for two years.

After not appearing on Wednesday, Wright did attend his sentencing hearing remotely on Thursday, but refused to say which country he was currently in when asked by Mellor.

Court documents stated he was in either Singapore or Indonesia.

Wright said he planned to appeal the contempt finding.

In May, Judge Mellor ruled in favour of COPA that Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto, finding that he had forged evidence by backdating and altering files and faking emails.

The cryptocurrency has seen a meteoric rise in value since its launch in 2008, and on Friday morning a single Bitcoin was more than $157,000.

Reuters/AP