Bitcoin Conception Conspiracy
Bitcoin was conceived out of the financial crisis of 2008 and the disheartenment with bank bailouts. It was meant to be an alternative currency that can be sent to anyone at anytime, without any central bank poking its ugly head. All Bitcoin needed was the Blockchain, an amazing piece of revolutionary technology that can validate transactions and be used by any computer in the network.
Today, there is general consensus that Blockchain technology can transform the world.
According to the World Economic Forum (2017):
“This second era of the internet promises to create new opportunities for a more prosperous world. Prosperity is about one’s standard of living. To achieve it, people must have the means, tools, and prospects for creating material wealth and thriving economically. For us it includes more – security of the person, safety, health, education, environmental sustainability, chances to shape and control one’s destiny and to participate in an economy and society. This is the promise of the blockchain, the promise of a future where there is prosperity for everyone. But we must act now.”
While I have no knowledge of where the phrase, “Internet of Value” originated from, I do like the sound of it. There is also the theory that blockchain tech will soon be the value “fuel” for the Internet of Things (IoT). Reading all this and seeing what’s happening in the digital world, instills a sense of confidence in the blockchain, a technology that eliminates the “middle man.”
With the two superstars, Bitcoin and the Blockchain reigning supreme, the one question that continues to be asked..
Who was the brilliant mind behind the conception of Bitcoin and Blockchain?
Conspiracy Theories Abound
This one question has given rise to conspiracy theories that could fill a “Foucalt’s Pendulum” (A very interesting story of three pranksters who love conspiracy theories, and decide to invent their own fake conspiracy.)
In fact, many believe that the suspense around this question may have propelled bitcoin’s growth initially. Was that the inventor’s marketing strategy for Bitcoin? To remain anonymous and to keep the suspense intact?
Satoshi Nakamoto
The enigma that is Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin and Blockchain, has driven many to collect circumstantial evidence and show off a discovery. While none of them were able to find the elusive figure, even the Bitcoin developers who worked with him initially, lost touch with him.
Before we get down to discussing conspiracies, let's take a look at some Satoshi sightings.
In November 2008, a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto was published.
The paper titled: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, outlined the concept and technical details of a revolutionary payment system, using which, sending and receiving of payments is possible without the need for any financial institutions like the banks.
Bitcoin was conceived.
Click here to read the entire paper published via the Cryptography Mailing List.
But the conceptor had no face or identity.
The first version of Bitcoin software client was released in 2009.
Satoshi was seen participating with other team members in the project, through mailing lists. While he worked with other members on the open-source project, no personal details ever came out.
The last email
For the last time, in 2011, Satoshi said he moved on to other things.
I stumbled upon many websites with an email that Satoshi sent on April 23, 2011. He is supposed to have sent it to a software developer called Mike Hearn.
“I’ve moved on to other things. It’s in good hands with Gavin and everyone.”*
However, I have not found any confirmation that this is actually a mail sent by Satoshi, I suggest you take it with a pinch of salt - as you should, all the conspiracy theories making the rounds on the Internet.
Is he a businessman, pinned by the government for tax evasion? If he happens to be someone like that, I’m sure, it would pain many a Bitcoin and Blockchain enthusiast. Well.. people came up with numerous conspiracy theories.
Of Japanese Origin
Prior to publishing the Bitcoin paper, even the name Satoshi was fairly unknown. There was a profile on the P2P Foundation website at the time, that showed Satoshi Nakamoto as a 37-year-old Japanese male. Based on the name, people theorized that he could be of Japanese origin.
Coders who worked on Bitcoin with him and interacted with him through email, described him as using British English spelling. Based on his posts and coding, they believed that he could not be Japanese.
Opinions were also voiced about the gender of the person. Is it a “he” or a “she”.. or a group perhaps?
Greenwich Mean Time
The entire homosapien race turned Sherlock Holmes to find the identity of Satoshi. The Bitcoin forum users started rummaging through the forum posts. Stefan Thomas, an active user, found 500+ posts by Satoshi. His research showed him that Satoshi never posted anything between 5am and 11am GMT. What did that mean? That it was night time for Satoshi and he was sleeping. They assumed that he either lived in North America or Carribean.
Their theory was based on the assumption that Satoshi was a conventional sleeper, who sleeps at night. But were they correct in their assumption? How many of us sleep at 9pm and wake up at 5am? Not many. Not in today’s world. So their theory remains as good as the others.
The Adam Penenberg angle
Did any of you read the article by Adam L. Penenberg in the Fast Company website? I found his theory very interesting. His detective genius entailed finding some text in Satoshi’s Bitcoin paper.
I highlighted the text for you: Computationally impractical to reverse.
These words caught Penenberg’s attention. He used found a patent application with the same phrase, dated August 15, 2008. This patent was for a method that encrypts secrets between computers. Then he found out that Bitcoin.org was created just 72 hours after the filing of that patent application. The names listed on the application were: Neil King, Charles Bry and Vladmir Oksman – all of them had extensive experience in cryptology and computer coding.
While we can’t help but feel that this has to be true.. this is him; unfortunately, nothing came of this discovery too .. as all three denied being Satoshi.
The Mt. Gox Connection
There are so many Satoshi conspiracy theories, that it’s almost impossible to stop. “Jed McCaleb” is the founder of the Mt. Gox exchange and co-founder of Ripple. His past showcases a highly technical background. eDonkey, a P2P file sharing network was founded by him in 2000. During the sale of the Mt. Gox exchange, he was quoted as saying, Mt. Gox was “cool and needed to exist.”
Does that ring any bells? Those words are similar to what Satoshi said in his final email - “I’ve moved on to other things. It’s in good hands with Gavin and everyone.”
He too denied.. yet another dead end.
Others
Shinichi Mochizuki, responsible for solving the ABC Conjencture and Nick Szabo, a law school professor and a computer scientist, were also at some point looked at with suspicion of being the eccentric genius the world has been looking for.
Reaching so many dead ends, people even began to speculate that the government could have shepherded the Bitcoin Blockchain movement.
Conclusion
Mention of Bitcoin and blockchain, takes us back to the enigmatic developer that envisioned a previously unfathomable and unthinkable world that existed virtually - without Internet passwords, without identity theft, self-securing investments and a decentralized financial system. The initial hoard of coins that Satoshi mined, worth millions of dollars, is said to remain unspent to this day.
Why does this clandestine genius maintain secrecy? All we have is a lot of breadcrumbs, but not enough to satiate.
Liked what you read? Now it’s your turn to come up with your own Satoshi conspiracies for us.
