Satoshi Nakamoto

Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Though his real identity is still shrouded in mystery, Satoshi Nakamoto is known as the founder of Bitcoin. He is said to be hailed from Japan and has been associated with Bitcoin since 2007. However, nothing much is known about him outside the world of Bitcoin. He had tremendous knowledge about the cryptography mailing list, though he never posted anything out of Bitcoin or revealed any other similar technology.

Possible Identities of Satoshi Nakamoto

Undoubtedly the introduction of Bitcoin is a revolutionary event in the history of digital currency world. Many people suspect Satoshi Nakamoto as a fictional name given to a person who invented the Bitcoin. Nakamoto is the pioneer behind the idea that brought digital coin into existence. Hence, it can be a group of people or an individual to whom the concept of Bitcoin can be attributed. When the news regarding his existence broke out, it was found that Satoshi is a 37 years old man having a Japanese origin, though looking at his ability to speak fluent English, many think that it is far from the truth.

Satoshi used to communicate through anonymous mail hosting service (vistomail) and a free webmail account (gmx.com) and send emails when connected via Tor. Thus, his identity was always kept secret.

Looking at his codes and comments, the way he used them shows proximity that he might originally have British origin. Further, this belief was reinforced because he used to come online between 5 GMT to GMT 6 to carry out his online activities. It is really a great surprise how he kept himself hidden with such caution.

Given below is the list of few people who are suspected to be Nakamoto, the Bitcoin creator. Let’s have a look at them.

Nick Szabo

A computer scientist by profession, Nick Szabo is also a legal scholar and an avid cryptographer, who is widely appreciated for his research in digital contracts and digital currency. He introduced the concept of smart commerce, a vital feature in the programming language used in cryptocurrency transactions. It is a highly advanced form of contract law and practices in electronic commerce where transactions are carried out on the internet between unknown users. Nick was added to the list of people who are doubted to be the founder of Bitcoin as he designed a mechanism for a decentralized digital currency called as Bit Gold. Nick denied the claim later that he is the creator of Bitcoin.

Dorian Nakamoto

He is one of the controversial founders of Bitcoin, though he claimed he has never heard of this term which is really amusing. He found everything so embarrassing that he even filed a lawsuit against those journalists who labeled him as Satoshi Nakamoto. He was so used to the allegation that he even embraced the life of Bitcoin and started living as Satoshi three years from the time he was labeled. He attended the Bitcoin gathering held in 2017, thousand miles away from his home which also created doubts among people. In fact, he was so used to be called himself as Satoshi that slowly he adopted the Bitcoin way of life. Dorian, once mentioned in an interview that his life was completely changed with this allegation of misidentification.

Hal Finney

A developer by profession, Harold Thomas Finney II was associated with PGP Corporation who was the creator of several console games. He was among the first who started using Bitcoin and involved in the first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto. He was an American by birth and holds an engineering degree in 1979 from the California Institute of Technology. Initially, he was working with a company that develops popular video games like Armor Ambush, Astroblast Adventures of Tron etc., till the time he associated with the PGP corporation and retired from there.

He was an advocate of cryptography and associated with lots of activities in the field to promote the new technology among people. He discovered the first reusable proof of work system before Bitcoin and also was the first transaction recipient of Bitcoin network. As he lived in the same city where Dorien Satoshi Nakamoto lived i.e. California it gave fuel to the rumor that he might be the creator of Bitcoin. Though, Finney refused all the allegations when he was asked about this.

On March 2013, Finney stated on a Bitcoin forum (Bitcoin Talk) that he was essentially paralyzed when he started working on an experimental software called bcflick, which uses Trusted Computing to strengthen Bitcoin wallets. He was in full spirit despite being physically weak, which he continued until his last days.

Craig Steven Wright

An Australian by birth, Craig Steven Wright is a computer scientist and a businessman. He came to limelight when he publicly proclaimed himself as a part of the team who created Bitcoin. He used to sign messages with the help of private cryptographic keys in his computer controlled by Satoshi Nakamoto. However, many people believe this could be a manipulative action. Further investigations conducted by Wired and Gizmodo found his links with the name Satoshi Nakamoto. His house was even raided by the Australian police suspecting his involvement in a hoax that took place in December 2015.

Research says that it was a scam that did not prove anything, as later it was concluded that Wright copied an old signature from a Bitcoin transaction performed in 2009 by Satoshi. Wright wasn't able to provide any justifiable evidence of him being Satoshi. Some say he was under tremendous business pressure to prove himself as Satoshi after whom he could have received some benefits. Though he might not be a creator of Bitcoin, at least he was involved with the team who created the coin. Now he is reluctant to prove himself as Nakamoto and just ousted from the Satoshi Nakamoto team.

Others

New Yorker an American magazine in an article published in 2011 tried to link one economic sociologist Dr. Vili Lehdonvirta from Finland as Bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Along with him, Michael Clear’s student in cryptography from Ireland was also linked with the Bitcoin founder. Both vehemently denied the claim.

Another three persons naming Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry were claimed as Satoshi Nakamoto by a then investigative journalist called Adam Penenberg in the year 2011. Their suspicion was created by a phrase used by these three during a patent application filed by them which draws a similarity with the phrase used by Satoshi Nakamoto in his Bitcoin white paper. Interestingly the domain name Bitcoin.org came into being just three days after the patent application. All of them refuted the allegation.

One renowned computer forensic investigator called Dave Kleiman is also said to be a possible name because of his association with Craig Wright. Ted Nelson, a leader in the field of information technology in America, who was also a sociologist and philosopher tried to associate Satoshi to a mathematician named as Shinichi Mochizuki from Japan. Shinichi also denied all the allegations of being getting called as Bitcoin creator.

A software developer from Massachusetts, Gavin Andresen was also once linked with Bitcoin. Being a 3D graphics developer, he started developing Bitcoin products from 2010. He was declared as the lead developer in the Bitcoin team when Satoshi decided to step down. He was the man who founded the Bitcoin foundation in 2012 for better promotion and development of the Bitcoin currency.

Dustin D. Trammell is another person to be known as Satoshi Nakamoto. He was a security researcher from Texas. Later he denied all the allegations publicly.

As many as five people have claimed to be the founder of Bitcoin. The last in the list is Elon Musk, who is a renowned inventor and engineer heading the space X mission. He is the founder of several big tech organizations. A blogger called Sahil Gupta linked his name with the founder of Bitcoin and request him to accept the title. The irony is that Mask later admitted that he has lost a few of his Bitcoins and thus proved wrong all the allegations.

What Do We Know About Satoshi Nakamoto?

The popularity of Bitcoin is reaching sky high and it is strange to know about the founder of this gigantic digital money transaction method of modern day is hiding his real identity. This might be because constant media attention is really disturbing. However, the search is still on and it will continue till the time we will come to know about the right person who is responsible for the creation of Bitcoins or who exactly is Satoshi Nakamoto.

We can't neglect the fact that Satoshi might be the wealthiest person in the world. However, if the facts & figures are to be believed he is among those richest people on the earth with a net worth of around $19.2 billion. Since Bitcoin's inception in the year 2009, its value saw a phenomenal rise of about 20 times higher in 2017. There is no doubt that all the Bitcoin investors until now have enjoyed abundant wealth and those looking to be a part of this amazing technology stands with an equal chance of getting solid returns in future.

Bitcoin White Paper

Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper titled "Bitcoin", a peer to peer electronic cash system on 31st October 2008 which took the market to storm. In this paper, he explained the nuances of digital currency and the upcoming of a digitally safe transaction system. The advantage of such type of transaction system was that all the transactions were done without the involvement of a third party unlike our normal online transaction along with the help of a unique digital signature of the user. The other technicalities were also explained clearly including the calculative method and the equation through which common people can clearly understand the investment process and its rewards. Only a server would be responsible to keep the database of all Bitcoin transaction, further reducing the possibility of any fraudulent behaviors in the transactions. His whitepaper entails a complete detail of cryptocurrency and talks about the unprecedented rise of digital currency.

Satoshi is the smallest unit of Bitcoin currency, which amounts to one hundred million of a Bitcoin. In every Bitcoin transaction, the amount which is about to be transacted is first converted into Satoshi denomination and later sent for processing. For smaller payments, Millisatoshi is used, which is equal to 1-euro cent i.e. 83 Satoshi approx.

Nevertheless, the popularity of Bitcoin is still going strong day by day. Needless to say, the mystery behind this coin added to its popularity as mystery always attracts people. Till date, research is still on to find out the real identity behind Bitcoin creation and on a positive note, we can say someday it might come to light.

P2P foundation and Nakamoto controversy

P2P is an organization based in Amsterdam which is involved in the study of the peer to peer technology and the impact it has left on our society. Since Satoshi Nakamoto released its white paper on Bitcoin in this website, the rumors started doing the rounds that the creator of the coin is Dorian S. Nakamoto from Temple City, California.

Nakamoto first published a paper on Bitcoin in 2008 called as "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System". In the next year January 2009, then came the first Bitcoin software that launched the first units of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The first version 0.1 of Bitcoin software on SourceForge was released by him on 9 January 2009.

Nakamoto once mentioned that the actual work on the Bitcoin codes started in 2007. Subsequently, he created a website with a domain name called Bitcoin.org with the aim to forge ties with the other developers on the Bitcoin software till around the middle of 2010. During this time, he slowly distanced himself from the Bitcoin activities and handed over all the technical details including the source code repository and network alert key to his assistant 'Gavin Andresen'. He also transferred his knowledge to several other colleagues. However, before leaving the community, he modified all the codes by himself.

When Bitcoin reached its peak in the month of December 2017 close to more than 19 billion USD, it placed Nakamoto in the list of the richest person in the world, despite his real identity is still unknown.