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

Post by vidarh » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC

discmonkey wrote: post #38

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 got about two sentences further, it turns out another smoking gun is Mr. Back using c++ in his graduate studies, just like the original bitcoin implementation.

Post by ozten » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 9:49 PM UTC

danso wrote: post #79

Pretty compelling story. Not necessarily for its revelations, but for the fact that John Carreyrou and the NYT decided to publish it at all. If it were by anyone else, I would have stopped reading after the first thousand words of meandering narrative, but Carreyrou is staking his massive and impeccable investigative journalistic reputation on this mountain of circumstantial evidence and statistical analysis. Him tor…

Post by vidarh » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 9:51 PM UTC

ploum wrote: post #107

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.

My theory is that Satoshi is a persona created by Adam Back and Hal Finney. They probably devised something where both needed to agree and sign something for Satoshi to act. This also allowed them to say "I’m not Satoshi Nakamoto". They also probably ensured that anything that belongs to Satoshi required both of them. The death of Hal Finney ensure that Satoshi died definitely. But they may have "killed" him before b…

Post by afavour » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 9:52 PM UTC

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.

Post by WalterBright » Wed, Apr 08, 2026, 9:53 PM UTC

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,"…