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Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Great question. I have no idea.
Excuse me?
Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym used by the person who invented bitcoin, first used in a white paper published in 2008. His identity remains a secret, including among people who worked with him to further develop bitcoin’s code.
Has anyone tried to take credit?
Did they ever! In 2015, a Wired investigation suggested that Australian computer scientist Craig Wright could be Nakamoto, but also said he could be perpetuating a hoax. Since then, Wright has run with the idea, repeating the claim in media interviews and bringing lawsuits against those he said were infringing on his intellectual property.
So, is it him?
Not according to a judge in the U.K. Last month, the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) filed a lawsuit to force Wright to stop making the claim. During the trial, a forensic expert said they found hundreds of instances of forgery and tampering in Wright’s evidence. People involved in bitcoin’s early days also cast doubt on Wright’s claim, and COPA’s lawyers alleged Wright fabricated an email during the trial to explain an inconsistency in his testimony.
Are there any other candidates?
Some have pointed to Nick Szabo, an academic who published a paper on a precursor to bitcoin, though he has denied the claim. A Forbes journalist thought it could be cryptography pioneer Hal Finney, but changed his mind when he saw that Finney had received bitcoin from Nakamoto’s account. Newsweek thought it was Dorian Nakamoto based on his scientific education, libertarian philosophies, and seemingly confirming to a reporter that he worked on bitcoin — though he said he thought the question was about past work with Citibank.