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Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

nytimes.com

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Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#111

Post by AgentME »

modeless wrote: post #88

I don't believe anyone claiming that Satoshi is still alive. There is zero chance any human who put so much effort into creating something would remain silent while it became a $2 trillion phenomenon that succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Satoshi is certainly dead.

Adam Back is the well-off CEO of a company in the blockchain space. From that position, he gets to continue to use his expertise in the field with plenty of connections while having more than enough money without needing to risk revealing himself as Satoshi or risk de-stabilizing Bitcoin's value by using Satoshi's known wallets. It seems like the best possible outcome for someone in Satoshi's position.

I'll at least agree that I don't think any other living candidates for Satoshi make any sense. I can't believe someone who started a brand new influential field of study could fully exit from it while fully avoiding the proceeds from it, as would be necessary to believe in any other living candidate.

Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#112

Post by Lerc »

I found this amusing.

>P.G.P., a free encryption program used by antinuclear activists and human rights groups to shield their files and emails from government surveillance.

I find it fascinating to see how the users of a program change, based on how a reporter wants to build or diminish.

At least it's going in a positive direction today.

Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#113

Post by refulgentis »

kgeist wrote: post #9
kaladin-jasnah wrote: post #3

> I’d learned enough by then to know that P.G.P. relies on public-key cryptography. > So does Bitcoin. A Bitcoin user has two keys: a public key, from which an address is derived that acts as a digital safe deposit box; and a private key, which is the secret combination used to unlock that box and spend the coins it contains. > How interesting, I thought, that Mr. Back’s grad-school hobby involved the same cryptograp…

>I read up to here, but I wasn't convinced that this is the revelation that the author claims The rest of the arguments is as weak: 1) both released open-source software 2) both don't like spam 3) both like using pseudonyms online 4) both love freedom 5) both are anti-copyright etc. Basically, the author found that Adam Back used the same words on X as Satoshi did in some emails (including such rare words as "dang,"…

[flagged]

Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#114

Post by coppsilgold »

The author has collected more than enough entropy to single out Mr. Back, especially when the anonymity set of who could be Satoshi is so small.

It's either Back or someone who tried to frame him, long before Bitcoin was even remotely successful. Generally, framing someone like this is a poor strategy because it places you in the person's radius as opposed to being absolutely anyone.

Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#115

Post by WalterBright »

My dorm room was next door to Hal Finney. He was a freakin genius at every intellectual endeavor he bothered to try. My fellow students and I were in awe of him.

But you had to get to know him to realize what he was. To most people, he was just a regular guy, easy going, friendly, always willing to help.

He was also a libertarian, and the concept of bitcoin must have been very appealing to him.

And inventing "Satoshi" as the front man is just the prankish thing he'd do, as he had quite a sense of humor.

I regret not getting to know him better, though I don't think he found me very interesting.

My money's on Hal.

Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#118

Post by bobbiechen »

refulgentis wrote: post #113
kgeist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I read up to here, but I wasn't convinced that this is the revelation that the author claims The rest of the arguments is as weak: 1) both released open-source software 2) both don't like spam 3) both like using pseudonyms online 4) both love freedom 5) both are anti-copyright etc. Basically, the author found that Adam Back used the same words on X as Satoshi did in some emails (including such rare words as "dang,"…

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This article is a great example of "strong + weak = weak".

I only made it to the interesting stuff because of Carreyou's name, otherwise I would have stopped.

The email timing and lack of email metadata were also strong, in my opinion. But all of this nonsense like "Wow, these guys both talk about PGP??" distracts from it.

Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#119

Post by vidarh »

refulgentis wrote: post #113
kgeist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I read up to here, but I wasn't convinced that this is the revelation that the author claims The rest of the arguments is as weak: 1) both released open-source software 2) both don't like spam 3) both like using pseudonyms online 4) both love freedom 5) both are anti-copyright etc. Basically, the author found that Adam Back used the same words on X as Satoshi did in some emails (including such rare words as "dang,"…

[flagged]

All of those similarities can be explained by Satoshi having read what Back wrote.

Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator

#120

Post by dboreham »

I'm going to call BS on this. Not that this guy couldn't be Satoshi, but the article has some serious nonsense in it. Ha said he learned to program on a "Timex Sinclair". It wasn't called that in the UK. Did he know the alternative name and auto-translate in speaking to a US journalist? Seems unlikely. Then he used C++! Amazing. So did everyone at that time. He took an interest in PK cryptography. So has every single serious software engineer since the 1990s. It's the same thing as Bitcoin! Seriously. I stopped reading when the next piece of evidence was that he used the word "libertarian".
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