One of the most enduring mysteries of Bitcoin is the identity of its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. Little is known about this person or group, and 𓄧their identity has n🔜ever been confirmed.

In October 2008, a message signed by Satoshi Nakamoto titled "Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper" announced the creation of the cryptocurrency. For the next two years, Satoshi remained active in the community, communicating with others in the development of the blockchain. Satoshi's last message on the Bitcoin forums was posted in December 2010, though unverified private messages from April 2011 have surfaced.

Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Nakamoto is important to the Bitcoin ecosystem beyond their status as a founder. The persona is a philosophical figurehead of sorts and is frequently invoked among cryptocurrency proponents debating the future of Bitcoin's development. For example, both sides in the contentious forking of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Bitcoin Cash (itself a fork of the original Bitcoin 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:blockchain) claimed toꦡ uphold Nakamoto's ori൲ginal vision for the currency.

It's difficult to truly know how much bitcoin Nakamoto owns, as it is suspected Nakamoto might have used different addresses when mining early blocks. However, some estimate 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Bitcoin wallets thought to be associated with Nakamoto hold several hundred BTC. However, most of these addresses are only theorized to belong to the legendary figure. Nakamoto's original address, used to send and receive the first bitcoins, holds more than 100 BTC and grows because it is continuously contributed to. Some believe Nakamoto has multiple addresses that total more t𝔉han 1.1 million BTC.

Despite numerous efforts to uncover Nakamoto's elusive identity, only a handful of individuals have been proposed—none have been proven—to be Satoshi Nakamoto beyond a doubt. Here are four candidates.

Dorian Nakamoto 

One of the most high-profile attempts to reveal Bitcoin's founder occurred in March 2014, when Newsweek identified Dorian Nakamoto as the currency's creator.

Newsweek claimed several similarities between Satoshi Nakamoto and Dorian Nakamoto. For example, both supposedly held libertarian leanings and a Japanese heritage. Dorian graduated in physics from California Polytechnic and worked on classified defense projects. The article's author also claimed Dorian Nakamoto said he was "no longer" involved with Bitcoin and that he had "turned it over" to other people.

Dorian Nakamo🌱to later denied the quote, claiming t𓃲hat he had misunderstood the question and had nothing to do with Bitcoin.

Still, the media circus was not without profit for Dorian Nakamoto. In March 2014, tech entrepreneur and crypto-enthusiast Andreas Antonopoulos launched a fundraiser to support Nakamoto. The crowdfunding campaign served as an apology for the damage and difficulty Nakamoto experienced during the ordeal. More than 2,100 supporters donated 102.23 bitcoins worth roughly $34,500 in 2014; in Novemeber 2024, it would have been worth more than $7 million, but only 0.00370010 BTC (about $282) remained in the address.

Craig Wright 

For the most part, individuals suspected of being Satoshi Nakamoto have denied the claim or remained silent. However, that has not been the case with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Craig Wright, an Australian with an interesting persona.

In December 2015, Wired Magazine wrote a profile on Wright, claiming it had "obtained the strongest evidence yet of Satoshi Nakamoto's true identity." The article reported on Wright's appearance via Skype at that year's Bitcoin Investor's Conference in Las Vegas. When asked about his credentials, Wright claimed he was "a bit of everything." He listed his degrees, including a master's in statistics and two doctorates. He also said: "I've been involved with all of this for a long time ... I try and keep my head down."

Wired's evidence consisted of references to a "cryptocurrency paper" on Wright's blog that appeared months before the Bitcoin whitepaper began circulating. In addition, there were leaked emails and correspondence with Wright's lawyer referencing a "P2P 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:distributed ledger." Furthermore, leaked transcripts of meetings with attorneys and tax officials quoted him as saying: "I did my best to try and hide the fact that I've been running Bitcoin since 2009. By the end of this, I think half the world is going to bloody know."

Those claims were soon thrown into doubt. Wired followed up its report to note several inconsistencies in Wright's story. For example, the blog entries appeared to be backdated. Evidence also suggested that public encryption keys linked to Satoshi Nakamoto were also backdated. Even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who is otherwise reticent about politics in the cryptocurrency world, came out against Wright, publicly calling him a fraud.

Wright, unfazed by the criticism, parlayed the media attention to carve out a promin💞ent role within the crypto community. He led a contentious fork of Bi🙈tcoin Cash, forming Bitcoin SV.

In March 2024, London High Court Judge James Mellor found Wright not to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Mellor stated in his closing arguments that the evidence against Wright was overwhelming.

Nick Szabo 

Nick Szabo is a computer engineer and legal scholar. He is credited with pioneering the concept of smart contracts in a 1996 paper. In 2008, he conceptualized a decentralized currency he called Bit Gold, a precursor to Bitcoin. He described Bit Gold as "a protocol whereby unforgeable costly bits could be created online with minimal dependence on trusted third parties." Thℱis is similar to the Bitcoin concept, whereby a network of computers without a leader verifies and validates transac✤tions.

Author Dominic Frisby makes the case that Nick Szabo is Satoshi Nakamoto in his book Bitcoin: The Future of Money? Frisby consulted a stylometrics expert who concluded that Szabo's writing style was similar to known writings from Satoshi. Another clue is that both Szabo and Satoshi reference economist Carl Menger. In addition, Frisby learned Szabo had worked for DigiCash, an early attempt to bring cryptography to digital payments. In the author's eyes, this strongly suggested that Nick Szabo is Satoshi Nakamoto.

Peter Todd

In the most high-profile accusation yet, Peter Todd was accused of being Nakamoto by investigative filmmaker Cullen Hobak in a 2024 HBO documentary film, Money Electric. According to his GitHub page, Peter Todd is an "Applied Cryptography Consultant" who has been involved in Bitcoin development and other projects for many years.

Remaining faithful to all known Bitcoin developer stances when asked about being the persona, Todd denied being Nakamoto. However, in his defense, the evidence presented in the documentary was circumstantial at best, and theꦰ Bitcoin developer community scoffed at the accusation.

The Bottom Line

There are many theories about who Satoshi Nakamoto really is. News orga𒁃nizations and other interested parties continue 🍌to investigate the persona, but the true identity of Nakamoto remains unknown—probably by design.