A computer scientist claiming he created bitcoin will hold onto $54 billion of the cryptocurrency after civil lawsuit

• A computer scientist claiming to be bitcoin's creator will keep a cache of 1.1 million bitcoins following the end of a civil lawsuit Monday.
• A Florida jury found in favor of computer scientist Craig Wright in a case brought against him by the family of his deceased business partner.

Craig Wright, a computer scientist who claims to be the creator of bitcoin, will be able to keep about $54 billion of the cryptocurrency following a Florida jury's decision in a civil lawsuit, but will have to pay $100 million related to a breach of intellectual property, news reports said Monday.

A federal jury in Miami on Monday rejected six out of seven claims brought against Wright by the family of his former and now-deceased business partner, David Kleiman. The case centered on a cache of roughly 1.1 million bitcoins belonging to bitcoin's creator, who is widely known as the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.

Wright since 2016 has claimed to be Nakamoto, the person behind the October 2008 bitcoin whitepaper. But Kleiman's brother, Ira, launched a civil action saying his brother and Wright together were Nakamoto, entitling the Kleiman family to half of the bitcoin cache. David Kleiman was a computer forensics expert who died in 2013.

With the jury rejecting most of the claims against Wright, the Australian programmer living in London will hold onto the bitcoin cache which was worth about $54 billion on Monday. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency was trading at around $51,700 Tuesday morning.

Wright said Monday he feels vindicated and that the verdict proves he's bitcoin's creator.

"The jury has obviously found that I am because there would have been no award otherwise," Wright said, according to Bloomberg.

The jury did order Wright to pay $100 million in compensatory damages over a breach in intellectual property rights related to a joint venture between Wright and David Kleiman, according to CNBC. The money will go to W&K Info Defense Research LLC instead of Kleiman's estate.

"I have never been so relieved in my life," Wright said, according to Bloomberg. Wright said he won't appeal.