Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency today, was introduced in 2009 and instantly began gaining popularity. By 2010, the internet and social media world were already hyping these digital coins.
Due to the speedy adoption of the network, its coins gained tremendous value. Bitcoin surged from the sub-dollar price to now trading at $20k. Yes, this was a massive gain, with faster growth in price than Gold.
The investment prospects of BTC and the lucrative opportunities offered raised the question; who created this system? Yes, many have heard about Satoshi Nakamoto. But who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used for the person or group who helped in the founding of the Bitcoin network. It’s the name used to identify the person who popularly helped in the inception of the cryptocurrency landscape.
After he created the 2008 Bitcoin whitepaper, Satoshi remained quite relevant and active within the Bitcoin community for some time. Since 2010, merely one year after the launch of the BTC network, Satoshi has not been heard from ever again.
Satoshi founded Bitcoin while the world was slowly trying to recover from the severe impacts associated with the 2008 global financial crisis. It appears that Satoshi drew the idea of Bitcoin’s creation from the crisis, as the anon founder aimed to solve the problems of the global financial space.
This person/group set up a proper groundwork of the blockchain by leveraging cryptographically secure systems which foster transparency and security. As such, the Bitcoin network was designed to offer financial decentralization allowing anyone to take control of their economic space. His genius idea was to encourage people to enjoy true financial freedom.
There have been many questions surrounding the origin, identity, and personality of Satoshi Nakamoto. However, almost everyone agrees that Satoshi was a genius computer programmer, whether an individual or a group. So who is Satoshi Nakamoto? This guide will look to uncover the identity of the anon BTC founder.
So, What Do We Know About Satoshi Nakamoto?
Before generally identifying the face behind the name, we must highlight a few things we know about Satoshi Nakamoto. So, what do we already know about Satoshi?
The Name is of Japanese Origin
The name Satoshi Nakamoto originates from Japan or Japanese regions. This name could indicate that the face behind the name must have some Japanese background.
In 2014, Forbes magazine, while trying to uncover the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, highlighted a Newsweek magazine report which revealed that Satoshi Nakamoto’s real name is Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto. The magazine also mentioned that Satoshi Nakamoto is a Japanese-American physicist living in California.
However, other people argue that Satoshi Nakamoto should not be considered the actual name of the Bitcoin author. Considering his efforts to maintain a pseudonym, it’s possible that Satoshi Nakamoto used the name to enhance the anon nature of their identity.
Satoshi Nakamoto Must be a Genius Programmer
Creating an open-sourced code like Bitcoin is not something that anyone can do with ease. To successfully code such a robust blockchain, they must have a perfect computer programming and coding background.
The Bitcoin code is one of the most well-written in the technological world. It had no errors or mistakes. The Bitcoin blockchain by itself, although open source, has seemingly been almost impossible to hack for over a decade of its existence. A hacking expert Dan Kaminsky tried to identify flaws associated with BTC. Therefore, the person considered to be Satoshi should indeed be an expert programmer, not just a random beginner coder.
Satoshi Must Be Currently Quite a Wealthy Person
Another attribute that can help identify Satoshi Nakamoto is his wealth status. Satoshi Nakamoto must surely be a very wealthy person. Why?
According to reports, there’s one wallet traced to Nakamoto Satoshi. This wallet currently holds over 1 million BTC coins. According to reports, all BTC in the wallet remains untouched. Based on the price of BTC, Satoshi’s net worth should be around $21 billion when writing this report.
An Individual or Group
Another question that still troubles investors is whether Satoshi is one person or a group of people. While many believe it’s an individual, some encoding experts argue that Satoshi Nakamoto is most likely a group. According to reports, the expertise nature involved in Bitcoin’s open-source coding is most likely an effort of more than one person. Therefore, some argue that Satoshi Nakamoto is a group.
Fluent British English
Based on the Bitcoin white paper, the author must have eloquence in British English. Some argue that this would mean that Satoshi was raised or educated in Britain.
Using Stylometry Analysis to Identify Satoshi Nakamoto
In the past, many experts leveraged stylometry analysis to uncover the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. Stylometry analysis involves checking and analyzing the literature writing style and linguistics used in a document to identify the author.
Expert stylometry analysts indicate that the writing styles, vocabularies, and lingual used by authors are very different from others. Every individual has terminology that they mostly or rarely use when writing.
In stylometry analysis, some note that the sentence lengths differ depending on the author. Some writers use super-long sentences, while others prefer to write shorter ones. Moreover, according to stylometry analysis experts, some writers use colons and semicolons in their books. Also, since different English dialects have different spellings, it could be easy to know the author’s origin.
Crypto enthusiasts have also used stylometry analysis to identify Satoshi Nakamoto. Primarily, the experts have been using a copy of Satoshi’s original writings and comparing them with others quite vocal about crypto today. The analysis indicates that some misspellings, literacy quirks, and other minor errors are unique to Satoshi Nakamoto. Therefore, comparing his writings to others in the industry can help get the identity of Nakamoto.
People Thought to Be Satoshi Nakamoto
As already mentioned, for someone to be considered Satoshi Nakamoto, they must at least fulfill several of the qualities mentioned earlier. So, over the lifetime of crypto, several investors and top KOL in the industry have been assumed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Let’s highlight a few:
Gavin Andresen
Some analysts have researched seriously and concluded that Gavin Andresen is Satoshi Nakamoto. Gavin Andresen is worth over $26.5 billion as of 2021. A stylometric analyst compared Gavin Andresen’s writings in Github documents to the reports of Satoshi’s BTC paper. The analyst noted that the similarities in the writing styles could be evidence that Mr. Adressen is Nakamoto.
Further information indicates that one of the earliest adopters and creators associated with BTC is Andresen. He launched a BTC-focused Faucet website in 2010. Also, he created Bitcoin’s reference implementation. Indeed, there is a lot of info tying Mr. Gavin Andresen to Satoshi Nakamoto.
Dorian Nakamoto
The initial attempt to identify Satoshi Nakamoto was made in 2014 by Newsweek. According to reports, Newsweek magazine discovered several similarities between the two Nakamotos. For instance, Dorian Nakamoto, a Physicist who graduated from California Polytechnic, created BTC’s code.
Since he is of Japanese and American origin, is a genius, and shares a name, there was cause for speculation about him being the BTC creator. According to Newsweek magazine, Dorian Nakamoto accepted that he had turned over the control of Bitcoin to other people. That alone would be a statement of acceptance. However, Dorian refuted the claims later, noting that he misunderstood the question.
Craig Wright
Craig Wright is another person who has in the past been identified as Satoshi Nakamoto. After Newsweek’s first attempt to uncover Satoshi’s identity backfired, other magazines began the search for the truth. Towards the end of 2015, Wired Magazine identified Craig Wright as Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Wired Magazine highlighted evidence linking Craig Wright, including emails and blogs. However, further investigations after the magazine’s report indicate that some emails and blogs might have been backdated. Wright was massively criticized by many people in the industry, including Vitalik Buterin referring to him as a fraud.
It’s, therefore, safe to say that Craig Wright is NOT Satoshi Nakamoto. However, he was involved in the creation of Bitcoin SV.
Nick Szabo
Nick Szabo, a legal scholar, and computer scientist, has also been linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. There are multiple reasons to link Nick to Satoshi. Foremost, Nick introduced a precursor to BTC called Bit Gold in 2008. Bit Gold’s vision was similar to that of Bitcoin, a system that does not depend on 3rd parties, a concept quite similar to BTC.
Some Stylometric analysts noted that Nick’s writing style is similar to Satoshi’s. Moreover, in both their writing, Nick and Satoshi mentioned Carl Menger. Even more, Nick had some background working with cryptography systems. Before the launch of BTC, he worked with DigCash to try and bring cryptography to digital settlements.
Why Did Satoshi Nakamoto Remain Anon?
You would expect a genius, the creator of a trillion-dollar industry, to publicize themselves. Usually, it’s the human tendency to seek glory for our great works. However, while Satoshi gave birth to a trillion-dollar industry, the genius still chose to remain anonymous. But why? Here are two main reasons;
- The primary reason is to avoid publicity – Essentially, some people often fear publicity. By publicly announcing their identity, Satoshi Nakamoto’s private life would be made public.
- Security — Another reason is to maintain their security. Imagine this, a bunch of criminals comes to know of Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity. The bitcoin founder would find themselves at the center of criminal attacks.
What is Satoshi Nakamoto’s Identity?
Ever since the creation of BTC, the question of Satoshi Nakamoto’s real identity has been troubling investors. Essentially, many want to know the face behind the name of the person who created this modernized way of finance.
However, as already established in the article, Satoshi has done an outstanding job remaining anon. The fact that no one has been able to get Satoshi’s identity outright proves that the Bitcoin founder has gone to lengths to ensure no one finds them.
Even so, one thing has remained clear throughout Bitcoin’s history; Satoshi Nakamoto is genuinely a genius. The expertise in generating the idea behind bitcoin and implementing it through coding is massive. Until such time that Satoshi Nakamoto is ready to get doxxed or publicly informs the world of the links to BTC, all we can do is be grateful for Bitcoin.
Twitter Thread: Who is Satoshi Satoshi
The inception of Bitcoin opened the world to many lucrative opportunities, leading to adoptions. Because of Bitcoin’s speedy adoption, the question of who founded the network became a matter of relevance. It was Satoshi Nakamoto. But who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
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A coding Genius or a group?
Satoshi’s Bitcoin code is a programming masterpiece. The blockchain has never been hacked. Some ethical hackers were astonished by the code’s complete lack of flaws. Therefore, Satoshi must have been either an expert coder or a group of programmers.
(2/12)
A Financial Libertarian, Wanted Decentralization
Satoshi created an almost flawless global financial system. The idea was always to foster the decentralization of financial controls back to individuals. Indeed Satoshi was genuinely a libertarian, aimed for financial freedom.
(3/12)
Nationality: British, American, or Japanese?
The name Satoshi Nakamoto is of Japanese origin. However, some location tags associated with Satoshi’s emails show that the anon Bitcoin founder was operating in the U.S. Hence, many presume Satoshi is an American with Japanese ties.
(4/12)
Could Satoshi be British?
It’s possible. The quality and fluency of English used in the Bitcoin whitepaper indicate that Satoshi understands British English vastly. While there’s confusion about Satoshi’s origin, some argue that he could be of Japanese American heritage but studied in Britain.
(5/13)
A multi-Billionaire?
Sure. Going by the number of BTC a wallet linked to Satoshi held, the Bitcoin founder must be a multi-billionaire. A wallet traced to Satoshi had over 1 million BTC. Satoshi must be worth over $20 billion at the current Bitcoin price.
(6/12)
Slytometry Analysis
Some use stylometry analysis to uncover the face behind the name Satoshi. Stylometry analysis involves uncovering an author’s identity by scanning their writing style. Due to analysis, some people have been linked to Satoshi’s identity. They are:
- Gavin Andresen
- Dorian Nakamoto
- Craig Wright
- Nick Szabo
(7/12)
Gavin Andresen, an American software developer, has been vastly linked to the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. The stylometric analysis indicates that he is the closest match to Satoshi. Also, being an American developer, there’s a massive CHANCE he is indeed Satoshi.
(8/12)
It’s NOT Dorian Nakamoto
Newsweek magazine disclosed Dorian Nakamoto, A Japanese-American Physicist, as Satoshi Nakamoto. However, Dorian refuted the claims noting that he has no link to BTC.
(9/12)
Is it Craig Wright?
Craig Wright chose to take advantage of a few minutes of fame when a magazine called Wired linked him to Satoshi. However, many BTC investors and KOL called him a fraud for his attempt to claim glory for someone else’s work.
(10/12)
Is it Nick Szabo?
Szabo, who introduced Bit Gold in 2008, is another close match to Satoshi Nakamoto. His writing style is similar to Satoshi’s, and he mentions Carl Menger in one of his documents.
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Do we know who Satoshi Nakamoto is?
While there are many speculations about the true identity of Satoshi, there is no accurate confirmation. Until that time when Satoshi decides to get doxxed, we can only speculate about his identity. But one thing is true; Satoshi Nakamoto was a genius.