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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

#341

Post by bluecalm »

gyomu wrote: post #312

Simple question for anyone who’s familiar with this world of journalism: how does the author and the NYTimes cope with the fact that making such claims paint a huge target on the person they claim to have “unmasked”? Satoshi’s wallets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and there have been kidnappings/torture/murders for much less than that. Do they just not care about the ethical implications? And really, for…

I was thinking along the same lines. Isn't it just doxxing? Going deep into someone's online history and making hypothesis about who they are in real life, then publishing their name and what they do?

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

#342

Post by DeathArrow »

gyomu wrote: post #312

Simple question for anyone who’s familiar with this world of journalism: how does the author and the NYTimes cope with the fact that making such claims paint a huge target on the person they claim to have “unmasked”? Satoshi’s wallets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and there have been kidnappings/torture/murders for much less than that. Do they just not care about the ethical implications? And really, for…

>Satoshi’s wallets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and there have been kidnappings/torture/murders for much less than that.

So if Forbes publishes a list of the richest people in the world, it makes them targets?

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

#343

Post by hart_russell »

zamadatix wrote: post #339
gyomu wrote: post #312

Simple question for anyone who’s familiar with this world of journalism: how does the author and the NYTimes cope with the fact that making such claims paint a huge target on the person they claim to have “unmasked”? Satoshi’s wallets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and there have been kidnappings/torture/murders for much less than that. Do they just not care about the ethical implications? And really, for…

At least Adam Back is already publicly known to be worth at least tens of millions anywyas. Many of those dozens/hundreds of other guesses are not so lucky. If the private key still exists, the BTC would be worth more like 10s of billions though. I choose to believe the key is long gone from this world though, whoever originally had it.

Long gone until quantum computers crack all the legacy wallets

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

#344

Post by anshumankmr »

DeathArrow wrote: post #342
gyomu wrote: post #312

Simple question for anyone who’s familiar with this world of journalism: how does the author and the NYTimes cope with the fact that making such claims paint a huge target on the person they claim to have “unmasked”? Satoshi’s wallets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and there have been kidnappings/torture/murders for much less than that. Do they just not care about the ethical implications? And really, for…

>Satoshi’s wallets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and there have been kidnappings/torture/murders for much less than that. So if Forbes publishes a list of the richest people in the world, it makes them targets?

do you need the forbes list of billionaires to know who is bezos, gates or musk?

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

#345

Post by DeathArrow »

What if Satoshi Nakamoto, whoever he is, lost the key to his wallet?

I've read somewhere that there are some very big bitcoin wallets nobody has touched since long ago. So it's safe to assume the keys are gone.

Does it matter if a large proportion of bitcoins are gone from the network?

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

#346

Post by johnfn »

gyomu wrote: post #312

Simple question for anyone who’s familiar with this world of journalism: how does the author and the NYTimes cope with the fact that making such claims paint a huge target on the person they claim to have “unmasked”? Satoshi’s wallets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and there have been kidnappings/torture/murders for much less than that. Do they just not care about the ethical implications? And really, for…

The NYTimes infamously doxxed Slate Star Codex[1], despite him basically begging them not to because it would upend his psychiatry practice, back in 2020 for no reason other than because they could.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23610416

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

#347

Post by bawolff »

ognarb wrote: post #186
Lerc wrote: post #112

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.

And nowadays, PGP technology is mostly used by the government and military. I wouldn't be surprised if this was also the case when Bitcoins was originally developed

[Citation needed]

Seriously why would gov use pgp? They would be the last group i would expect to use something like PGP.

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

#348

Post by bluecalm »

FireBeyond wrote: post #240
dotancohen wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pretty compelling story. Not necessarily for its revelations, but for the fact that John Carreyrou and the NYT decided to publish it at all. When is the line crossed from journalism into doxxing? Whoever created Bitcoin has a legitimate safety reason to stay anonymous. Anyone suspected of holding that much wealth becomes a target - as does their family.

Except Satoshi has been "anonymous" and those Bitcoin have never moved, even when the sum total of that wallet might have been $10,000 or so. And if Satoshi's holdings now exceed $1B, well, for better or worse, multiple courts have ruled that billionaires are inherently public figures, because of their "outsized effect on public discourse".

Even if he is Satoshi he might not be a billionaire or rich at all.

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

#350

Post by righthand »

anamax wrote: post #336
thehappypm wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exposing the wealthy is pretty standard journalism

And if this guy isn't Satoshi? And if he comes to harm as a result of someone believing the NYT?

Then the person who harmed him will be prosecuted. And life will go on.

The NY Times isn’t calling for violence.

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