Bitcoin is certainly the most famous cryptocurrency in the world, and currently represents more than 50% of the market. Despite the strong position, little is known of its creator, a mysterious programmer identified as Satoshi Nakamoto. In the course of this article, we will discover the main theories about Satoshi's identity, the evidence against various "suspects" and why the Bitcoin creator would have an interest in maintaining anonymity.
Satoshi Nakamoto is, by his own admission, the inventor of Bitcoin and the first to concretely develop the concept of blockchain, despite the idea had already been sketched in the past by several cryptographic experts. It has never been clarified whether it is a single individual or a pseudonym used by a larger group to protect their identities.
With this first post published on a forum of fans of the Peer to Peer protocol, Satoshi Nakamoto presents the Bitcoin concept and the reasons that led to its creation. The initial enthusiasm is realized soon in the formation of a team of programmers who develop and expand the Bitcoin code, always under the supervision of Satoshi Nakamoto who continues to intervene through the forums and emails to guide the project.
The disappearance of Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi's support for Bitcoin development stops abruptly in December 2010, when all activities on the BitcoinTalk forum, one of the pillars of the crypto community, cease. The founder had in fact continued to intervene regularly to guide the project and explain in detail his vision of a decentralized currency. Since then, except for a brief appearance to deny a hypothesis about his identity, the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto has not appeared online.
The development of the project continued thanks to the efforts of Bitcoin Core, the group of programmers initially gathered around Nakamoto that continue to update and improve the Bitcoin code and its blockchain.
The theories about Satoshi Nakamoto
With the increase in interest in Bitcoin and the blockchain, many have tried to decipher the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto's identity. The only finds left by the Bitcoin creator have been carefully analyzed:
- The white paper - the document where Satoshi first described the Bitcoin technology and the Blockchain, generating the initial interest that led to the development of the project
- The emails with the Bitcoin development team - made public only after its disappearance - are the conversations between Satoshi Nakamoto and other programmers regarding the development of the Bitcoin code
- Bitcoin and cryptography forum posts - more than 550 messages left on different Bitcoin sites, cryptocurrency and peer to peer protocol
- The C ++ source code of the first Bitcoin client version - this Bitcoin prototype represents the implementation of the white paper, and demonstrated the rudimentary features of its technology
- The first block of the Bitcoin blockchain - the Genesis block contains an enigmatic and ironic message taken from the front page of the British newspaper The Times on January 3, 2009: "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"
Analyzing the language used by Satoshi Nakamoto, more than someone has suggested that he is a native speaker from the United Kingdom: in fact many words are written in British English (color, favor, fulfillment, etc.), and the message of the original Bitcoin block comes from just from a newspaper widely distributed in England. A further check of the times during which Satoshi intervened on the forums made it possible to establish that he most likely followed the time zone in use on the European continent.
The portrait of Satoshi Nakamoto that emerges from his writings is that of a man of medium-high culture: the words are quite sought after, the errors are scarce and often season his messages with an aura of anti-system philosophy, even without taking a part precise in the political scenario. Analyzing instead the first Bitcoin client, a very competent developer emerges who ranges from programming languages to complex cryptographic protocols.
The cryptography expert: Nick Szabo
The US cryptography and computer engineering expert Nick Szabo is the inventor of smart contracts (widely used in Ethereum) and already in 1998 he presented something very similar to today's Bitcoin, called at the time BitGold. According to its inventor, BitGold's infrastructure would have been similar to a modern blockchain, but could not overcome the problem of double spending (ie the possibility that an attacker could "spend" the same BitGold unit twice). A problem overcome by Bitcoin, even though Szabo has always denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.
The trusted collaborator: Laszlo Hanyecz
A contributor to the Bitcoin project since the beginning, Laszlo Hanyecz is a renowned cryptography expert who was famous for having executed the first transaction in Bitcoin for a material good (in our case, two pizzas at home). In addition to having contributed to the Bitcoin and blockchain code for a long time, Laszlo Hanyecz can boast a close collaboration and email correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto, leading several to hypothesize that it was the same person. Later investigations and Laszlo's decided denials have led this hypothesis to be shelved. Over time, Laszlo made statements about his collaboration with Satoshi calling him "bizarre" and "obsessed with privacy".
The unaware suspect: Dorian Nakamoto
In 2014, the famous American magazine Newsweek published the scoop of having finally identified the creator of Bitcoin: according to journalists the mysterious programmer was actually Dorian Nakamoto, a physicist of Japanese origin and resident in California with great experience in the field of financial applications and military encryption. Despite the pressure from journalists and a first admission that was later denied, Dorian Nakamoto has always denied being the creator of Bitcoin or being involved in any cryptocurrency project.
Surprisingly and after five years of silence, Satoshi Nakamoto reappeared on the P2P Foundation forum to deny that he was Dorian Nakamoto before disappearing again. However, several members of the original Bitcoin team pointed out that the account may have been violated over time, so the veracity of the message remains debated. There seems to be no more doubt about the total extraneousness of Dorian Nakamoto from Bitcoin, which announced several lawsuits against Newsweek for the damage caused to him and his family by the alleged scoop.
The Australian hypothesis: Craig Wright
Craig Steven Wright is an Australian entrepreneur with interests in finance and cryptography. During 2015, various specialized magazines indicated him as Satoshi Nakamoto, a hypothesis that the person concerned never bothered to deny. The following year Craig Wright publicly admitted to being Satoshi Nakamoto, also presenting what in his opinion would be the private key used for the first Bitcoin block: several experts denied his claim, and Craig Wright retracted shortly afterwards until to disappear from the public scene.
The Silk Road false trail: Ross Ulbricht
The founder of Silk Road, a popular drug and weapons marketplace on the dark web founded in 2011, was suspected for a while of being Satoshi Nakamoto. In fact, all the site's transactions took place precisely in Bitcoin, thanks to the guarantee of anonymity and the lack of interest of the authorities of the time; this has undoubtedly contributed to giving a major boost to cryptocurrency, because site users were forced to buy Bitcoins to make purchases.
Arrested in 2013, Ross Ulbricht had accumulated millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies but subsequent investigations have shown his total extraneousness to the creation of Bitcoin.
Why would Satoshi Nakamoto want to remain anonymous?
The address of the Satoshi Nakamoto wallet contains, according to today's value, several billion dollars that have never been moved since its creation. Although it is a figure that would be tempting for everyone, it is objective that it is difficult money to convert into fiat: the address of the wallet is visible to everyone, and any movement would be immediately noticed and investigated.
To consider also the legal aspect: given the high quantity of frauds and illegal uses of this cryptocurrency, it is possible that its creator wants to protect itself from possible causes or problems with justice.
The theories about the fate of the Bitcoin creator are different: some claim to be dead, and this scenario opens important questions about the price of cryptocurrency and the entire market. The assets of Satoshi would in fact be lost forever, excluding the possibility that he was able to entrust the private keys of his huge reserves of Bitcoins to someone. With these funds frozen to infinity, the total amount of Bitcoin in fact would be much lower than previously estimated, consequently increasing the price of those remaining.
