Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? The creator of Bitcoin

Who is Satoshi: 

The first Bitcoin was mined on January 3, 2009 by someone known as "Satoshi Nakamoto". Today, Satoshi Nakamoto is recognized as the alias of the person or group of people who created Bitcoin, an invisible figure or figures whose technological creation has influenced the world.

Satoshi Nakamoto was already a household name among crypto enthusiasts such as computer scientists and hackers long before the Bitcoin boom. Someone had posted on online message boards and corresponded with fellow developers by email under the same name years before. Although not confirmed, it is suspected that the person (or persons) behind the pseudonym was also behind these communications.

Months before mining the first bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto had published a white paper on a crypto mailing list titled " Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System ." The paper , published on October 31, 2008, described a decentralized peer-to-peer protocol that was cryptographically secure. 

In the white paper , Nakamoto described it as a "purely peer-to-peer version of electronic money" that would "allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution or any intermediary".

The origins of Satoshi Nakamoto

Bitcoin was born after the mortgage crisis of 2008, in which the liquidity of world financial markets was greatly affected by the collapse of the real estate market. The crisis inspired the creation of Bitcoin, a fully functional form of digital currency based on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) called blockchain. 

Nakamoto's white paper laid the groundwork for future forms of cryptographically secure, tamper-proof, transparent, and censorship-resistant systems. The goal of the system was to allow individuals to claim financial power through a decentralized financial system. The idea of ​​decentralization eliminated the need for intermediaries, such as companies, financial systems or governments, to participate in the exchange of digital currency. Transactions would be secure and tracked through a blockchain. The difference with the blockchain was that it was visible to all participants and was distributed securely throughout a network. 

The birth of Bitcoin

Although Nakamoto remains a mysterious figure, his goal for creating the cryptocurrency itself was never a mystery. Quite simply, he created it to take back financial control from the financial elites, giving ordinary people the opportunity to participate in a decentralized financial system. 

Bitcoin remains open source, which means that no one has the power to fully own or control it. Its design is public and open to anyone's participation. 

Bitcoin was a response to the Great Financial Crisis, which showed that even the world's biggest banks can fail. He highlighted the fragility of the modern financial system and called for the decentralization of financial transactions. Thus the cryptocurrency was born, and Bitcoin was one of the first options outside the traditional financial system for the public to participate in financial transactions without intermediaries. 

The blockchain is how cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin build trust between users and ensure security, as it is a network-based ledger that all participants can access. The Bitcoin "genesis block" was coined on January 3, 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, officially launching the blockchain. A genesis block is the first block of a cryptocurrency to be mined and acts as the foundation of the blockchain.

During the first months of its existence, Bitcoin did not have an equivalent monetary value. Miners, people who used their computers to solve complex mathematical problems to discover or "mine" new bitcoins, were doing it just for novelty.

The miners also help verify the validity and accuracy of Bitcoin transactions. The actual Bitcoin payment miners receive is essentially a reward for auditing and processing the highly encrypted data that is part of every transaction. This ensures that each Bitcoin is accounted for correctly and cannot be spent more than once.

The first real-world transaction occurred on May 22, 2010, when a Florida man agreed to exchange two $25 pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin, thus making May 22 " Bitcoin Pizza Day ." It was the first economic transaction of the cryptocurrency. Back then, Bitcoin was worth four Bitcoins for every cent. Since then, its value has multiplied exponentially.

Possible identities of Satoshi Nakamoto

Three years after publishing his white paper on Bitcoin and mining the genesis block, Nakamoto retired from the cryptocurrency scene. 

He sent an email to another Bitcoin developer on April 23, 2011, saying that he had "moved on to other things" and that the future of the cryptocurrency was "in good hands." Since then, there has been no communication from Nakamoto's previously known email addresses. 

Throughout Bitcoin's long history, nothing has been more controversial than the identity of its founder. Numerous speculations have surrounded Nakamoto's identity. Some claimed that Nakamoto was the pseudonym of a group of cryptographers, not a single person. Others conjecture that he could be British, a member of the Yakuza, a money launderer or a woman disguised as a man.

Over the years, some individuals have been suspected of being the man behind the slippery pseudonym:

Dorian Nakamoto 

In 2014, Newsweek journalist Leah Mcgrath Goodman published an article titled " The Face Behind Bitcoin ". In one of the most high-profile attempts to reveal Nakamoto's identity, Goodman identified Dorian Nakamoto as the elusive creator of Bitcoin. 

Goodman cited similarities between the two Nakamotos, including mathematical ability, temperament, Japanese ancestry, and political leanings. Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, then 64, was living in Temple, California, when Goodman contacted him. According to Goodman, Dorian had previously worked in computer engineering and on classified defense projects. 

However, Dorian Nakamoto later denied any connection to Bitcoin . He dismissed any published quote as mere misinterpretation on the part of the reporter. Nakamoto claimed that his quote was taken out of context and that at the time of the interview he was talking about engineering and not Bitcoin.

Satoshi Nakamoto later confirmed on an online Bitcoin forum that he is not Dorian Nakamoto, putting the rumors to rest.

The Newsweek article sparked a debate about Dorian Nakamoto's privacy, which the cryptocurrency community felt was violated when Newsweek published a photo of his Los Angeles home. 

As a result, the crypto community raised over 100 Bitcoin on behalf of Dorian Nakamoto to express their gratitude and support regarding his ordeal. Dorian later appeared in a YouTube video in 2014 thanking the community, saying that he was going to keep his Bitcoin account "for many, many years." Although the video has since been removed from the original account, copies of it still exist online.

Craig Wright 

While Dorian Nakamoto denied being Satoshi Nakamoto, Australian computer scientist Craig Wright claimed that he was the man behind the pseudonym. 

Wright claimed the identity in 2016 after Wired magazine published a profile on him in December 2015. The article was titled “Is This Unknown Aussie Genius the Creator of Bitcoin?” and was apparently based on documents leaked to Wired. 

The evidence consisted of an article about the cryptocurrency allegedly published on Wright's blog a few months before the publication of the well-known Bitcoin white paper. Leaked emails and correspondence about a "P2P distributed ledger" as well as transcripts from tax officials and lawyers containing statements by Wright about his involvement in the creation of Bitcoin also came to light. 

But evidence to the contrary came to light. The blog posts had been backdated, as had the alleged public encryption keys linked to Nakamoto. 

One of the main identifiers of the blockchain is the "encryption public key", one of the two keys that cryptocurrency holders need to carry out encrypted transactions. In Wright's case, it appeared that both Nakamoto's public keys and blog entries were backdated, making his claims that much more suspect.

Wired subsequently retracted his claim and edited his article under the headline “ Is This Unknown Aussie Genius the Creator of Bitcoin? Probably Not .” The publication cited allegedly fraudulent evidence Wright published to support his claim as the reason for his conviction.

Following suspicions from the cryptocurrency community, Wright eventually retracted the claim. 

Nick Szabo 

Crypto expert Nick Szabo was also one of the media's "Suspect Satoshis." In 2015, The New York Times published an article titled " Unraveling the Satoshi Nakamoto Riddle and the Birth of Bitcoin ".

Comparisons were drawn between him and the mysterious Nakamoto due to similarities in writing and concerns, as well as Szabo's significant contribution to the development of Bitcoin. 

Nick Szabo is a computer engineer by profession. He is also a cryptographer and legal scholar, and has published works tangentially related to Satoshi Nakamoto's intellectual preoccupations at times. For example:

• Szabo pioneered the concept of smart contracts in a 1996 article titled " Smart Contracts: Building Blocks for Digital Markets ". Szabo conceptualized "Bit Gold" in 2008, which was also a decentralized form of currency and a precursor to Bitcoin. Szabo also previously worked on DigiCash, a digital payment system that used crypto.

• Both Nakamoto and Szabo reference the economist Carl Menger in their communications. 

In his book "Bitcoin: The Future of Money?", author Dominic Frisby was convinced that Satoshi Nakamoto and Nick Szabo were the same person and presented arguments to support his hypothesis. Szabo, however, denied the allegations about his alleged secret identity. 

Hal Finney

Hall Finney was a computer scientist, coder, and crypto enthusiast even before the Bitcoin boom. He died in 2014 at the age of 58 after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for five years.

Aside from Nakamoto himself, Finney was supposedly the first person to work on debugging and improving open source Bitcoin. He also received the first Bitcoin transaction in 2009 from Satoshi Nakamoto himself.

He was also a neighbor of Los Angeles-based engineer Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, a fact Forbes reporter Andy Greenberg found interesting, if not suspicious. Greenberg took writing samples from Hal Finney and Satoshi Nakamoto to a handwriting analysis consulting service. Due to the similarities in his writing style, Greenberg initially surmised that Finney may have been Nakamoto's ghostwriter, at the very least. He also raised the idea that Finney might have used Dorian Nakamoto as a "cover" to hide his identity.

However, Finney denied such claims and presented evidence to prove that he was not Satoshi Nakamoto. Meeting with Greenberg, Finney presented the emails he and Nakamoto had exchanged over the years, as well as his Bitcoin wallet history. 

The writing consultancy also concluded that Nakamoto's purported emails to Finney matched other published Nakamoto writing, cementing Finney's claim that it was not Nakamoto.

Why is Satoshi Nakamoto important?

The figure of "Satoshi Nakamoto" is important, be it a person or a group, not because of his identity (or lack thereof), but because of his contribution to the greatest technological invention of all time. Nakamoto paved the way for cryptocurrency to evolve and develop in response to the 2008 crisis, creating an alternative monetary system.

Of course, despite attempts to secure cryptocurrencies, the possibility of compromising them remains real. However, this risk is something that even the most traditional models of finance deal with on a regular basis. 

The difference that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin represent is the concept of decentralization and equality. A public ledger distributed via the blockchain effectively records, verifies, and validates Bitcoin transactions, while making them secure through cryptography. 

Since its creation in 2009, no hacker has managed to infiltrate it. Furthermore, Bitcoin is still relevant years after its introduction by Nakamoto. Large companies and investors are increasingly aware of its value and potential. Likewise, even companies are beginning to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment. The cryptocurrency market has also grown exponentially as more people become interested in Bitcoin mining and trading. 

Furthermore, Nakamoto's creation represents innovation and disruption. It was (and still is) a powerful reminder that all things must keep getting better to survive. In an industry famous for its resistance to technology, cryptocurrency shook up the financial world and shook things up for the better. 

Cryptocurrencies paved the way for various forms of digital currencies and peer-to-peer payment systems to evolve and become integrated into modern society. Innovations such as digital currencies benefit consumers by offering them alternative modes of payment and investment. 

Financial institutions are also responding to the challenge by adopting more customer-centric and innovative financial approaches. 

Satoshi Nakamoto: Truths and Mysteries

Despite media efforts to investigate and reveal Satoshi Nakamoto's identity, he remains a mysterious figure whose real-world persona is unknown.

However, it may be interesting to take a look at the bits of information we do know about Nakamoto, either from public records or through skillful research. Let's dive into it.

Satoshi Nakamoto is a coding genius

The New Yorker cites Nakamoto as a "supernaturally talented computer coder" who created Bitcoin with "thirty-one thousand lines of code." For the uninitiated, the reason the platform remains secure and reliable is thanks to Nakamoto's near-perfect code. It has no errors. This is, in part, the reason why it has not been hacked since its creation. 

In a 2011 article titled " Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin and Its Mysterious Inventor ," The New Yorker reported on how well-known and seasoned Internet security researcher Dan Kaminsky attempted to crack Bitcoin's code...and failed. 

For all to appreciate, Kaminsky was no ordinary coder. In fact, he is famous among hackers because he discovered a major flaw in the Internet in 2008. He alerted the Department of Homeland Security and executives from Microsoft and Cisco to address the problem immediately. Without his discovery, any expert programmer might have been able to shut down the Internet or take over any website. 

That said, Kaminsky was excited about the possibility of finding similar fatal flaws in Bitcoin. He saw him as an "easy target", something that could be easily compromised. However, what he found was Satoshi's nearly perfect code, which he later found to be impenetrable.

Satoshi Nakamoto is fluent in British English

Nakamoto's code and white paper on Bitcoin reveal that the famous coder is fluent in English, especially British. This, in part, is why some people believe Nakamoto might be British, even though he claims to be Japanese. 

He also employs the use of British English in the emails he sends to other programmers, such as Finney, as evidenced by some of his emails . Programmer John McAfee claimed to know who Satoshi was, thanks to a linguistic analysis of Nakamoto's white paper.

Satoshi Nakamoto can be more than one person

It is also stated that Nakamoto might not be a single person. Instead, he may be a group of people who worked to refine and create the code behind Bitcoin. Thanks to its excellent code, Bitcoin continues to thrive alongside other cryptocurrencies.

Some people, like Bitcoin developer Laszlo Hanyecz, believe that the level of encryption Bitcoin was created with would have needed more than one person. According to him, it is very likely that it was created by a team of programmers. 

No one knows if Satoshi is male or female

For all we know, the whole "Satoshi" thing could be a smokescreen to hide the identity of a female genius. Satoshi Nakamoto claims to have been born in April 1975.

In the same way that no one is sure that Satoshi is Japanese, people theorize that he could also be a woman.

In a male-dominated industry like tech, it's not unreasonable for a woman to use a male name to achieve equality among her peers. Historically, female writers have used male pseudonyms in an attempt to break into the literary scene and gain the respect traditionally accorded male authors. 

What if Satoshi used a similar trick? No one can say for sure, but this idea has been an empowering thought for many women in development. New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney popularized the slogan " Satoshi is female " at an event for women in blockchain. 

The future of Bitcoin

Since its creation, Bitcoin has had a storied past, not without its scandals. Originally designed to be a decentralized, borderless alternative to fiat currency, Bitcoin has slowly become centralized to some degree. Large banks and financial institutions, for example, have begun to open cryptocurrency trading desks and cryptocurrency custody services. 

Some would say this is a "compromise," a departure from Nakamoto's original vision of a revolutionary platform that bypassed financial institutions.

However, with the rise of “Bitcoin whales”, who have large holdings of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is said to have fallen back under the control of an elite. These big investors control the price of Bitcoin in the markets and have the funds to set up mining farms to mine Bitcoin. Consequently, the more miners, the more difficult the mining (as the mathematical problems become more complicated).

The good news is that Nakamoto's brainchild doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon. It has paved the way for the creation of over 11,000 different forms of cryptocurrencies and continues to rise in value. 

Given the right technological advances, there is a real possibility that people will adopt Bitcoin in more everyday transactions. Many organizations believe that Bitcoin may soon become the "currency of choice" on the global business scene.