Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous.. person or persons who developed Bitcoin, authored the Bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed Bitcoin's original reference implementation.[5] As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database.[6] Nakamoto was active in the development of bitcoin until December 2010.
There has been widespread speculation about Nakamoto's true identity, with various people posited as the person or persons behind the name. Though Nakamoto's name is Japanese, and inscribed as a man living in Japan,[8] most of the speculation has involved software and cryptography experts in the United States or Europe.
Nakamoto said that the work of writing Bitcoin's code began in the second quarter of 2007.[9] On 18 August 2008, he or a colleague registered the domain name bitcoin.org,[10] and created a web site at that address. On 31 October, Nakamoto published a white paper on the cryptography mailing list at metzdowd.com describing a digital cryptocurrency, titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System"
On 9 January 2009, Nakamoto released version 0.1 of the Bitcoin software on SourceForge and launched the network by defining the genesis block of bitcoin (block number 0), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins.Embedded in the coinbase transaction of this block is the text: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"
Nakamoto continued to collaborate with other developers on Bitcoin's software until mid-2010, making all modifications to the source code himself. He then gave control of the source code repository and network alert key to Gavin Andresen,[20] and transferred several related domains to various prominent members of the Bitcoin community.
As of 2021, Nakamoto is estimated to own between 750,000 and 1,100,000 Bitcoin. In November 2021, when Bitcoin reached a value of over $68,000, his net worth would have been up to $73 billion, making him the 15th-richest person in the world at the time.[21]
