Who is Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin? Learn everything about him

Satoshi Nakamoto was remembered for his creation. There are many inventions that were essential in the history of humanity, but that do not have a specific known creator. The wheel, agriculture and writing are some of them. And in this same list of great inventions is Bitcoin. After all, more than 10 years after its creation and no one still knows the answer: who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

The only thing that is known is that Satoshi Nakamoto is the name given to the creator of Bitcoin. The first message sent by the unknown person was precisely the announcement of the creation of Bitcoin, in October 2008. At the time, Satoshi announced that he was “working on a new, fully peer-to-peer electronic cash system with no trusted third parties.”

After releasing the white paper, Satoshi released the first version of the Bitcoin software client in 2009. Over the next two years, he participated in the project via mailing lists, with the help of others. Since then, Bitcoin and Satoshi Nakamoto have walked side by side – or almost. Many of these people are now speculated to be the real Satoshi, as we will see throughout the text.

Nakamoto worked closely with people on the open source team, but was careful to never reveal anything personal about himself. He eventually began to participate less in the community until, by the end of 2010, he disappeared completely. Satoshi’s last post on the famous Bitcointalk forum was on December 11, 2010.

Who created Bitcoin?

After this message, Satoshi wrote his final farewell saying that he was “moving on to other projects.” He left Gavin Andressen as a sort of representative for the community, and then disappeared. No other posts, documents, or anything written by Satoshi have been identified since.

Bitcoin and Satoshi Nakamoto

Many people study these documents – which have great historical value – in search of signs that could help discover his identity. However, the task has been difficult. Not even the Bitcoins that Satoshi accumulated were ever spent or sent to exchanges, which makes it difficult to track them.

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Because of this secret – one of the best kept in modern history – in recent years, there has been much speculation about who the person behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto might be. Or whether there is only one person behind it. In this text, we will look at some theories about people who could be Satoshi:

• Wei Dai;
• Lazlo Hanyecz;
• Dorian Nakamoto;
• Hal Finney;
• Nick Szabo;
• Group theory.

Wei Dai

Wei Dai was just as successful in hiding his true identity as Satoshi. However, Dai’s work was one of the few cited by Satoshi in the references of white paper of Bitcoin. Therefore, he is naturally one of the candidates for the position. But he has always denied being the creator of Bitcoin.

You Dai’s works demonstrate great expertise in cryptography. Their main creation was the b-moneya payment system that worked very similarly to the BTC blockchain. This reinforces the hypothesis that Dai was the creator of the cryptocurrency. Note the similarity between some concepts of b-money and Bitcoin:

• b-money transactions were recorded in a kind of ledger;
• This ledger would have copies distributed among computers;
• Each copy was updated whenever a transaction was executed;
• An upgrade to this system would require the “deposit” of funds for the recording of transactions, something similar to proof-of-stake mining (Proof of Stake).

Lazlo Hanyecz

If you’ve heard – and celebrated – about the Bitcoin Pizza DayLazlo Hanyecz was one of those responsible for its creation. On May 22, 2010, he made the first purchase with payment in Bitcoin in history. Two pizzas were paid for with 10 thousand Bitcoins. The date became famous and serves as a celebration for many enthusiasts.

In fact, both Satoshi and Hanyecz came to exchange messages. He sent an email to Satoshi with his GPU mining code. In turn, Satoshi shared with him his version of the code he had prepared in case of a 51% attack on the Bitcoin network. However, there is no evidence that Hanyecz is Satoshi – he himself has admitted that the Bitcoin creator invented GPU mining before him.

Dorian Nakamoto

A descendant of orientals, software developer who shares the same name as the creator of Bitcoin. Obviously, Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto (yes, that is his official name) could not be left out. Dorian has denied, more than once, being the creator of Bitcoin. Even so, he ended up becoming the “official” face of the cryptocurrency in memes and other publications.

Speculation about him first emerged in March 2014. At the time, a Newsweek article was written by columnist Leah Goodman. The article, titled “The Face Behind Bitcoin” (The Face Behind Bitcoin, in literal translation) brought Dorian’s name. He was a retired physicist and engineer who once worked for the US government.

Hal Finney

Harold Thomas Finney II, or simply Hal Finney, is one of the most important names in the history of Bitcoin. He was one of the first people to run a Bitcoin full node on January 11, 2009. And he was also the one who received the first Bitcoin transaction in history — a transaction that came from Satoshi Nakamoto himself.

Beyond that, Finney is responsible for making several contributions to the Bitcoin network. He developed the concept of asymmetric encryption keys. He also participated in the same discussion group where the Bitcoin whitepaper was released. And to complete the theory, he lived just a few blocks from the house of the previous “suspect,” Dorian.

However, he has always denied being the person behind Satoshi. Some of the Bitcoins he received were even spent on treating Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a disease that ended up taking his life in 2014. His body was cryogenically preserved in the hope that one day a cure for the disease would be found and he could be revived.

Nick Szabo

Nick Szabo is one of the leading polymaths in the cryptocurrency community. He is a legal scholar and cryptographer, and has written several treatises on both topics, as well as economic treaties. And he was already involved with digital currencies even before the creation of Bitcoin.

Between 1998 and 2005, Szabo developed a mechanism for a decentralized digital currency that he called “Bit Gold.” Although it was never implemented, many consider it to be the precursor to Bitcoin. He also remained silent on the emergence of Bitcoin until mid-2009, when he mentioned the cryptocurrency on his blog.

Furthermore, Szabo is considered one of the creators of the concept of smart contracts. He even wrote a article on this topic in 1997. This, coupled with his silence regarding the first cryptocurrency, raises suspicions that he was involved in the creation of Bitcoin. However, Szabo has always denied being the real Satoshi Nakamoto.

Group theory

What if, instead of one creator, Bitcoin was the work of all these minds together? It is an extremely complex tool that solves several monetary and computational problems. Due to this complexity, many believe that it would be impossible for it to exist. a creator for Bitcoin, and that its creation could only be a group effort.

Bitcoin’s code is far from perfect. However, it was extremely well written and detailed. This leaves two alternatives: either Satoshi is a super genius or it is a group of people. In fact, it could even be a union of the efforts of everyone on this list. After all, they all have characteristics in common:

• They are people with libertarian thinking;
• They have advanced knowledge of cryptography and, in many cases, economics;
• Made contributions to Bitcoin after or before its inception;
• They created technologies that were adopted by Satoshi and incorporated into Bitcoin.

Two of them, Wei Dai and Nick Szabo, are directly mentioned in the Bitcoin white paper. And a project of this magnitude requires, in addition to in-depth knowledge in several areas, a great deal of effort to program. Therefore, the group theory is one of the most accepted among Bitcoin enthusiasts to explain its creation.

Satoshi today

Even 10 years after the creation of Bitcoin, no one knows who Satoshi is today. The creator of Bitcoin managed to achieve the impressive feat of remaining completely anonymous forever. On top of that, he managed to create a project that does not depend on his presence – physical or virtual – to be executed.

There is currently an organization called Nakamoto Institutewhose materials are free. The site contains several messages, emails and other communications that Satoshi Nakamoto sent during the period in which he was active. Despite many analyses, no one has been able to discover concrete clues about Satoshi’s identity.

Follow Todaysgist on

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

Kamala Harris is 'struggling' to understand cryptocurrencies, says Circle CEO