SGI denies links with alleged bitcoin founder Craig Wright

High performance computing firm SGI has denied any involvement with Cloudcroft Supercomputers Australia, a supercomputer firm that was founded by suspected bitcoin founder Craig Wright under his parent company DeMorgan.

In a letter featuring the SGI letterhead and the supposed signature of SGI APAC service director Greg McKeon, SGI acknowledged it would be assisting Cloudcroft Supercomputers Australia in the development of hyper-density machines and supercomputers.

"As a global leader in high performance solutions for computers, data analytics and data management, SGI considers Cloudcroft a worthy partner in the goal to accelerate time to discovery, innovation and profitability," the letter said.

The letter also highlighted the two companies have previously worked together to build Cloudcroft's first supercomputer, Sukuriputo Okane.

WhaTech has previously reported that Wright even presented lectures on supercomputers in partnership between Cloudcroft, SGI, and Charles Sturt University.

Further evidence to suggest that Wright was the supposed owner of a supercomputer was highlighted in a Cloudcroft blog posted in December 2014, which indicated that Wright at the time had intentions to build "the biggest supercomputer cluster in Australia, with just under 5 petabytes", in time for the release of the Top 500 in June 2015.

However, Cassio Conceicao, SGI EVP and chief operating officer, has told ZDNet that despite this, SGI has never had any contact with Cloudcroft or Wright.

"Cloudcroft has never been an SGI customer and SGI has no relationship with Cloudcroft CEO Craig Steven Wright," he said.

Conceicao added that SGI has no record of the C01N supercomputer being purchased or serviced by the firm. The C01N supercomputer, which was placed at number 17 on the list of the world's fastest supercomputer in November, is another supercomputer that Wright apparently owns. It was allegedly created when Wright merged C01N and Tulip Trading, Cloudcroft's supposed flagship supercomputer, into a single high performance computer.

"SGI has no record of the CO1N supercomputer ever being purchased or serviced from SGI, therefore SGI suspects it may have been purchased on the grey market," Conceicao said. "SGI does not operate, maintain, or provide any services for this supercomputer."

On Wednesday, a home located in Sydney, New South Wales, and offices, which allegedly belonged to Wright, were raided by the Australian Federal Police in relation to an Australian Taxation Office investigation.

While it has not been confirmed, Wright is reportedly involved in the creation of the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Based on leaked transcripts of legal interviews and files, Gizmodo and Wired have highlighted that there is evidence to suggest Wright, along with computer forensics analyst David Kleiman, who died in April 2013, are the men behind Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of bitcoin that has never been identified.

Since the raid, Wright's online presence has been slowly disappearing. The letter, together with the Cloudcroft and DeMorgan website, and Wright's LinkedIn profile and Twitter account, have since been pulled.