Satoshi Nakamoto is the name attributed to the person/persons who developed the Bitcoin, authored the Bitcoin White Paper, and deployed the original reference implementation of the leading cryptocurrency. Nakamoto is also credited for devising the first-ever blockchain database. Since Bitcoin came into existence, many people have claimed to be Nakamoto. However, no information is available about the identity of Nakamoto.
Despite being anonymous, the name Nakamoto is seen as a synonym to Bitcoin.
If Satoshi Nakamoto is one person, he/she will certainly be a billionaire by now, given the manifold increase in the price of Bitcoin since it was first created.
The Creation of Bitcoin
According to Nakamoto, the work on writing code for Bitcoin began as early as 2007. The domain name Bitcoin.org was registered on August 18,2008. Two months later, on October 31, a whitepaper was published by Nakamoto on the cryptography mailing list at metzdowd.com. In the White Paper, Bitcoin was referred to as a digital currency. It was probably the first time that the term’ digital currency’ was used. “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” is how Nakamoto has described Bitcoin in the white paper.
Version 0.1 of Bitcoin was released on January 9, 2009, on SourceForge. Nakamoto also launched the network where he defined the genesis block of Bitcoin (block number 0). This block had a reward of 50 Bitcoins.
Also Read, What all you Must know about DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
Until mid-2010, Nakamoto continued to collaborate with other developers to modify the Bitcoin software. Most of the modifications in the source code were made by Nakamoto himself. Nakamoto is indeed believed to be a man despite being anonymous.
After 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto transferred the source code repository control to Gavin Anderson and the network alert key. Since then, Nakamoto did little or nothing when it came to the advancements and modifications in the network.
Who Could Be Satoshi Nakamoto?
The real identity of Nakamoto hasn’t been revealed even more than a decade after the creation of Bitcoin. However, several people, mainly cryptography and computer science experts, have been getting attention with the name being attributed to them. While Satoshi Nakamoto is a Japanese name, most people who attributed the name are interestingly non-Japanese.
Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto:
Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto is a Japanese-American man who lives in California. His birth name is Satoshi Nakamoto. In March 2014, journalist McGrath Goodman wrote an article infamous magazine Newsweek. He claimed that Dorian was the Nakamoto in question. Goodman listed a lot of points to back his claim. Goodman revealed that Dorian worked as a systems engineer on classified defense projects and computer engineer for technology and financial information services companies. He was laid off twice in the early 1990s. This resulted in him becoming a libertarian.
Hal Finney:
Hal Finney was a cryptographic pioneer who passed away on August 28, 2014. There’s a very strong reason behind the name being attributed to him. Finney was the first person after Nakamoto to use the software. He also reported bugs and made improvements in the Bitcoin software. What’s intriguing is that Finney lived just a few blocks away from Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto. Forbes journalist Andy Greenberg dug deep into the situation and asked writing analysis consultancy Juola & Associates to compare a sample of Finney’s writing to Nakamoto’s. Interestingly enough, the writings had the closest resemblance.
Craig Wright:
Wired came up with a huge claim on December 8, 2015. According to Wired, Australian academic Craig Wright “either invented bitcoin or is a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did.” Soon after the explosive claim, Wright deleted his Twitter account and stayed mum to all the media questions. It didn’t just end there. Popular science and tech website Gizmodo published a story claiming that Satoshi Nakamoto was a joint pseudonym for Craig Steven Wright and computer forensics analyst David Kleiman. The website claimed that it received evidence from a hacker who broke into Wright’s email accounts. However, a lot of people associated with Bitcoin rebuffed the report, calling the evidence a hoax.
