Summary
Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym behind Bitcoin and the original research paper author. The question “Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?” has sparked speculation about his true identity and whether or not Satoshi Nakamoto has been impersonated.
The inventor of Bitcoin has been a mysterious figure for over a decade. However, it turns out that Satoshi still owns Bitcoin after his private keys were traced back to the Genesis block, which Satoshi mined.
the introduction
Satoshi Nakamoto is the anonymous author who published the paper on Bitcoin in 2008. The paper was titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System (available at bitcoin.org). Satoshi did not invent the blockchain, but he was the first to create a decentralized currency based on blockchain technology.
Bitcoin was officially launched in 2009. But long before that date, this pseudonym was used in email correspondence and forum posts.
In 2011, the correspondence stopped, and Satoshi disappeared. Since then, there has been much speculation and accusations about the mystery of Bitcoin's invention.
But who is Satoshi Nakamoto? Who is the person or group of people who gave humanity one of the most prominent technological innovations of the twenty-first century; if not the most prominent? We will find out in the following lines.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Before answering this question, we must first ask ourselves, “Is it one person or a group of people?” Unfortunately, we do not have enough evidence to prove either. Although the prevailing view is that Satoshi is one person, some believe that he is a group, believed to be a team of computer scientists, cryptographers, and cypherpunks.
Before Satoshi stopped correspondence in April 2011, he claimed to be male, Japanese, and born on April 5, 1975. But people noticed that Satoshi had a perfect command of English, indicating that he was a native speaker. Most of his correspondence was during business hours in Europe, leading them to speculate that he did not live in Japan.
As news of Satoshi faded, speculation about his true identity grew. Many people and groups have been named Satoshi Nakamoto, but few candidates have captured the attention.
Hal Feeney
Of all the candidates to uncover Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity, Hal Finney is one of the most prominent. Hal was an early adopter of Bitcoin and the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction. He also worked as a software developer and was one of the founding cypherpunks in the 1990s.
Unfortunately, Hal Finney passed away in 2014 after suffering from a neurological disease that left him paralyzed for some time before his death. He always denied that he was Satoshi Nakamoto.
Nick Szabo
Another leading candidate is Nick Szabo, a computer scientist who invented a digital currency called BitGold years before Bitcoin. His correspondence within the cyberpunk community was remarkably similar to Satoshi’s, as were his writing style and correspondence timing.
Nick Szabo denied being Satoshi Namakoto, but that didn’t convince many in the crypto community. There are many similarities between Nick and Satoshi that may or may not be coincidental.
Dorian Nakamoto
Dorian Nakamoto is a Japanese-American man who actually goes by the last name Satoshi Nakamoto. He worked as a computer engineer for technology and financial services companies, and even lived in the same California area as Hal Finney for over a decade.
Dorian answered an interviewer’s question about whether he was involved in the development of Bitcoin, but later retracted the claim, saying he did not understand the question. He has since denied involvement in the project and said he did not even know about its existence until it was covered in media hype.
How much is Satoshi Nakamoto worth?
Whoever Satoshi Nakamoto really is, he is certainly very wealthy. The location where Satoshi stored his bitcoins was found by forensic experts, and his wealth has become a matter of public interest.
Since early 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto has not spent a single Satoshi. Estimates of how many bitcoins Satoshi owns vary, but most agree that it is around 1 million bitcoins (worth around $19 billion at its all-time high). By this estimate, Satoshi is one of the richest people on the planet.
Closing thoughts
Speculations vary as to who he is: he could be a person or a group of people. He could be dead or alive. But without hard evidence, we will never know who Satoshi Nakamoto really is. However, one thing we know for sure: Satoshi Nakamoto owns a lot of Bitcoin.
