Bitcoin is a very fascinating phenomenon. The story of how Bitcoin came to be is even more fascinating because of this day, people are still guessing who the real creator of Bitcoin is. There's many speculations out there and today , we're gonna break down our research on this.
It's been 13 years since Bitcoin was bought to life . As Bitcoin grows in popularity every year, many people are trying to figure out who created it. If you've ever done a quick Google search on the creator of Bitcoin then you probably came across the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It's said that Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin in 2008 during the global financial crisis. He then anonymously announced the release of it in early 2009, and then poof, disappeared.
You may be wondering why would someone create something so great and not want to take any credit for it? Well, since digital cryptography completely remove third parties from the equation, a.ka banks or the government, it was seen as a threat and there's no way of tracking transactions that are done exclusively between a sender and a recipient. Many developers in the past that have tried digital cryptography have risked serious consequences, like getting sued or even jail time.
In April 2011 , Satoshi Nakamoto sent his final email to his fellow developer saying , "I've moved on to other things. It's in good hands with Gavin and everyone." Since then, no one has heard from Satoshi Nakamoto or been able to track him down.
There's some people that have came forward and confessed that they are indeed the Satoshi Nakamoto. But at this point, with the amount of attention that the subject gets, if you say that you're Satoshi Nakamoto, then you're probably not Satoshi Nakamoto. However over the years, there have been a couple candidates that have seemed fitting. In 2014, Dorian Nakamoto, a Japanese- American physicist and engineer, was suspected to be the creator of Bitcoin simply because of his last name. When he started getting crazy attention from the media , he claimed that he had never even heard of Bitcoin before. And if he was really the inventor of it, he wouldn't be using his legal name.
Great point , however that brings me to the next possible candidate , and that would be Hal Finney. Hal Finney was a Cryptographer and actually worked with the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. Aside from Satoshi, Hal Finney was the first to start mining Bitcoin and received the first Bitcoin transaction. But that's not all. He also lived a few blocks down the road from Dorian Nakamoto. What are the chances that the two prime suspects lived down the road from each other? The TEA is HOT.
Hal Finney was a cypherpunk. Cypherpunks believed in privacy and limiting the government's role in economic interactions. Since he believed in it , it would make sense why people would suspect him to be the creator of something like bitcoin. Because he had been an active cypherpunk since in the 90s , he was heavily considered as a candidate when it came to figuring out who Satoshi Nakamoto was.
In 2009, he was diagnosed with ALS and in 2011 he retired, which was also the same year that Satoshi Nakamoto sent his final email and then vanished. It's very interesting how the years line up here with his retirement and Satoshi's final email .
In 2014 , he passed away and even right before his passing. He still denied that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. Something to know is that the creator of Bitcoin owns 1 million coins that have never moved from his digital wallet. Some believe that Satoshi is just disciplined and hasn't touched those coins while others believed that the coins died with Hal Finney in 2014, and that's why they haven't moved.
If Hal Finney was actually Satoshi Nakamoto and invented Bitcoin, then he had to have created a master plan early on to remain anonymous for the remainder of his life. That master plan being emailing himself from the very beginning to make him seem like he was working with another developer. It would also make sense why he received the first transaction of Bitcoin, most likely because he needed to test the system. Whether Hal Finney is Satoshi Nakamoto or not, there's no denying that his incredible work will live on forever and he would definitely be remembered for his contribution to Bitcoin.
The world of Cryptocurrency is still unfolding in front of our eyes and there's alot more that has yet to be discovered. Please Comment down below and tell me what do you think , Is Hal Finney Satoshi Nakamoto??
