The mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto

Who is hiding behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the one who developed the foundations of Bitcoin technology? This question, all Bitcoin enthusiasts have asked themselves over and over again… in vain. A mystery that will keep you up all night.

Preamble

I would like to start by specifying that despite the fact that this question arouses a lot of interest, both among the followers of Bitcoin and its detractors, it is of no importance, of no use. While we are indebted to the person(s) who crafted this technology, the beast is now released into the wild and lives as its maker or maker intended, without bosses, without masters. It is now a huge and growing community of programmers, financiers and visionaries who oversee the development and integration of this value transfer tool. However, in order to satisfy our curiosity, let's explore together the characters who were directly or indirectly involved in this quest. Please note that the use of the masculine will be used to refer to Satoshi Nakamoto in this text simply to lighten the structure.

Dorian Nakamoto

In 2014, a journalist named Leah McGrath Goodman published an article titled ' The Face Behind Bitcoin ' quoting Dorian Nakamoto, a computer engineer, as Satoshi Nakamoto . When she questioned the physicist about the origin of Bitcoin, his noncommittal answer seemed to confirm that she was on the right track. Dorian Nakamoto worked for the US military on several classified projects, so it's possible he was just trying to avoid the question. He later denied having misunderstood what had been asked of him. It is also important to specify that his birth name is Satoshi Nakamoto . Dorian Nakamoto has always denied being connected to the existence of Bitcoin and there is no evidence directly linking him to this exploit other than his birth name and the odd answer to the reporter's question.

Hal Finney

Hal Finney was a talented computer developer and philosopher. His work was in the cryptographic sphere aimed at preserving privacy, anonymity and financial autonomy. He was one of the first people to interact with Satoshi Nakamoto when the project was in its infancy. He was the recipient of the first transaction to take place on the network, in the amount of 10 bitcoins ( The transaction can be viewed here ). Although Finney was heavily involved in the project and shared some technical similarities with Satoshi Nakamoto , he always claimed not to be the creator of Bitcoin. Hal Finney died in 2014 from a degenerative disease. He will therefore take all his secrets with him.

Nick Szabo

Nick Szabo is a computer scientist, lawyer, and cryptographer best known for his work on contracts and digital currency. He is also the creator of the Bit Gold proposal, considered a precursor to Bitcoin. Some have speculated that Szabo was Satoshi Nakamoto due to his seminal work on smart contracts, which laid the conceptual groundwork for Bitcoin. Nick has always denied being the inventor of the much sought after bitcoin. Although it is undeniable that he may have had an indirect influence on the development of Bitcoin, he has never been confirmed as its creator.

Craig Wright

Unlike other suspects investigated previously, Craig Wright loudly alleges being the creator of Bitcoin. He puts a lot of effort into being recognized as such, among other things, by prosecuting his detractors. The Bitcoin community remains highly skeptical of his claims. Dr. Wright is widely regarded by the community as a liar and a con artist. Dr. Wright is not an expert in cryptography, programming or finance, but a doctor of theology. It would be, in theory, however very simple for the real Satoshi to provide indisputable proof of his existence. It would suffice to sign a transaction or a message with the private key of a bitcoin wallet believed to belong to Satoshi. Doctor Wright has unfortunately never been able to perform such verification and his assertions remain unfounded until he is able to do so.

Paul LeRoux

Paul Le Roux, a former cartel boss turned Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant, began to be suspected of being the notorious Satoshi Nakamoto in 2019 after his name emerged in a lawsuit involving Dr. Craig Wright. . Le Roux is an encryption specialist and has all the technical expertise needed to develop such a project. US law enforcement arrested Le Roux on September 26, 2012, on narcotics-related charges, seven murders, and operating a criminal cartel. The Distorsion Podcast team also produced an episode on the subject which is very interesting.

Adam Back

Adam Back is a British cryptographer credited with being heavily involved in the development of the Bitcoin protocol from the earliest moments of its inception. He was recognized for his work on proof of work long before the creation of the Bitcoin protocol. He is also the inventor of “Hashcash”, a technology used in the mining process of the Bitcoin network.

Youtuber @BarelySociable has produced a series of three very interesting videos (available in English only, but with possible subtitles) which explains very well why he is convinced that the creator of Bitcoin is Adam Back. I invite you to consult them here:

Satoshi's Communications Study

Several extremely intelligent and knowledgeable people have tried their luck in identifying the elusive creator of Bitcoin. Communications sent by Satoshi at the time are archived for reading here . His writing style has been studied time and again by linguists and philologists for clues about his age, nationality and geolocation. These studies seem to indicate that he used British English due to the way some words are written and the use of double spaces in his communications.

Satoshi's bitcoins

How much bitcoin Satoshi owns is a topic that comes up regularly. No one really agrees on how much bitcoin they own. However, some people have done some interesting analyses. The pessimistic estimates suggest that he would be in possession of 200,000 bitcoins, while the most optimistic speak of a million units. As of today, 200,000 bitcoins represent approximately US$5.5 billion while one million bitcoins represent nearly US$27 billion. It should be noted that despite this very interesting capitalization, Satoshi did not sell any bitcoins. Some will say that if one day one of his bitcoins were put on the market, it would be because he himself would have lost confidence in his invention and its course would automatically collapse. Others will say that Satoshi is probably deceased and his assets will probably never change hands.