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Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

martinshkreli.substack.com

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Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK (and thanks)...so how should I interpret this? As in, how is it possible to decrypt an encrypted signature, and what does that mean for the security of cryptocurrency?

Unless I'm grossly mistaken, it seems Shkreli doesn't understand the basics of cryptography because he's using incorrect terminology here. The signature isn't encrypted at all, it's just a piece of data (a hash, if you will) that was generated using the private key associated with the wallet in question. In order to generate the signature, you need to have a message to sign, and a private key. All Shkreli has shown i…

right. it has nothing to do with being published to the blockchain.

for example:

HB2dakxE7SgbuSQX6qQYByHkx3pTG0Tx2ymb8mVd2Bg6E+4Qk7O2/E/BiE9sjcLKp0rF+m3U0YHwI1Yv8Gjvjw0=

public:

1HZwkjkeaoZfTSaJxDw6aKkxp45agDiEzN

message: hackernews

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#92
post #81

1. The signature was created using a private key that corresponds to the address "1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3". 2. 1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3 is Hal Finney's (Not Satoshi's) address. 3. Hal Finney passed away in 2014. 4. Some coins that belonged to that address were spent in 2017. [1] It appears that someone else (definitely not Hal) has the private key to that address. [1] https://www.blockchain.com/b…

> It appears that someone else (definitely not Hal) has the private key to that address. So Paul le Roux, by the message? > 1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3 is Hal Finney's (Not Satoshi's) address. Where do you get this? EDIT: I am proposing not that Paul LeRoux is Satoshi, but that he is in possession of Hal's key, and produced that signature as a troll.

I would believe it if the signature came from one of Satoshi's addresses, but this is not it.

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#93
post #77

How did Martin Shkreli figure that out?

It's not an original idea. It was popularized a few years ago by Evan Ratliff, author of a book about Paul Le Roux, 'The Mastermind' Convenient for the author to discover the link to Le Roux. Then talk about it on podcasts while promoting his book, and have articles written about him. All Shkreli does is promote himself to get eyes on whatever he's doing next. You can't ignore the incentives. It's difficult to prove…

Thanks for sharing that important context and perspective.

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#94
post #81

1. The signature was created using a private key that corresponds to the address "1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3". 2. 1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3 is Hal Finney's (Not Satoshi's) address. 3. Hal Finney passed away in 2014. 4. Some coins that belonged to that address were spent in 2017. [1] It appears that someone else (definitely not Hal) has the private key to that address. [1] https://www.blockchain.com/b…

> It appears that someone else (definitely not Hal) has the private key to that address. So Paul le Roux, by the message? > 1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3 is Hal Finney's (Not Satoshi's) address. Where do you get this? EDIT: I am proposing not that Paul LeRoux is Satoshi, but that he is in possession of Hal's key, and produced that signature as a troll.

No, that particular message could be created by anyone (including people who are not Paul le Roux), who has the key to the 1Q2 address, at any time, past or present.

All we have to go on right now is that someone knows the private key that corresponds to the 1Q2 address and used it sometime before the last hour to generate a hash of a message that says that Paul le Roux sent bitcoin to Hal Finney.

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#95
post #60

This just feels like another entry in a long list of supposed proofs of who Satoshi is, which is missing detail (almost certainly by design) and which could have many other plausible explanations. The most obvious of which is that a private key leaked.

It could also be that Hal Finney lied about who it was, or was deceived about who it was. I find those to be plausible as well.

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#96
post #77

How did Martin Shkreli figure that out?

It's not an original idea. It was popularized a few years ago by Evan Ratliff, author of a book about Paul Le Roux, 'The Mastermind' Convenient for the author to discover the link to Le Roux. Then talk about it on podcasts while promoting his book, and have articles written about him. All Shkreli does is promote himself to get eyes on whatever he's doing next. You can't ignore the incentives. It's difficult to prove…

Also, my question means: How did he figure out how to decrypt that hash into the plain text message?

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#97

Could someone please clarify the connection between the wallet: 1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3 And the signature: HM7vpPSUbNsfDHRX6gv8xxWcVNHEc/3pOk0YrVehaGoUdbWizznfzOdELkLd1EjSXsW1oE5vHAkNAPzrAVzhuoI= how do we know that the two are connected? (I'm guessing one of them hashes to the other.)

I know next to nothing about the internals of bitcoin, but based on a high-level understanding of public key cryptography: - 1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3 is the wallet address but can also be thought of as a public key. The owner of the wallet also has a private key corresponding to that public key. - HM7vpPSUbNsfDHRX6gv8xx...[etc] is a cryptographic signature generated by signing an arbitrary message using a p…

However, I couldn't find this signature:

HM7vpPSUbNsfDHRX6gv8xxWcVNHEc/3pOk0YrVehaGoUdbWizznfzOdELkLd1EjSXsW1oE5vHAkNAPzrAVzhuoI=

... anywhere on the blockchain:

https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/search?search=HM7vpPSUbN...

Why not?

Update: I get it now. It doesn't have to have been on the blockchain. It's just a message that was signed with a private key, and...., using Hal Finney's public key (wallet address), the message, and the message signature, we can confirm that it was signed by Hal Finney's private key.

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#99
post #77

How did Martin Shkreli figure that out?

It's not an original idea. It was popularized a few years ago by Evan Ratliff, author of a book about Paul Le Roux, 'The Mastermind' Convenient for the author to discover the link to Le Roux. Then talk about it on podcasts while promoting his book, and have articles written about him. All Shkreli does is promote himself to get eyes on whatever he's doing next. You can't ignore the incentives. It's difficult to prove…

The question is where did he get the signature from?

Re: Paul Le Roux is Satoshi?

#100
post #77

How did Martin Shkreli figure that out?

It's not an original idea. It was popularized a few years ago by Evan Ratliff, author of a book about Paul Le Roux, 'The Mastermind' Convenient for the author to discover the link to Le Roux. Then talk about it on podcasts while promoting his book, and have articles written about him. All Shkreli does is promote himself to get eyes on whatever he's doing next. You can't ignore the incentives. It's difficult to prove…

Ratliff in the book said a lot of people suggested this to him, and he never found any evidence of it.
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