There has always been a mystery as to who invented the currency Bitcoin. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, is not anonymous of his identity whatsoever. The last time the internet has ever heard of Nakamoto publicly was on December 12, 2010, eleven years ago after he left a final message telling early members of the Bitcointalk forum that there’s still a lot of work to be done to improve the network. In this article, I will outline suspects as to who could possibly match the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto and why so many people claim to be him.
Why many people claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, however, is not a mystery. Currently, Nakamoto has roughly 1 million Bitcoins in his wallet which translates to around 56 billion US dollars depending on the price of Bitcoin at the time. This untouched treasure is why I believe so many individuals claim to be the creator of Bitcoin.
Dorian Nakamoto
Dorian changed his birth name in 1973 from Satoshi Nakamoto to Dorian Nakamoto. Besides the name, what makes Dorian a prime suspect for being the creator of Bitcoin? According to Dorian's oldest daughter, Dorian was laid off twice which led to him trailing off on his mortgage payments and his taxes. The result however was that his home was foreclosed. What does this have to do with Satoshi Nakamoto? Well, Nakamoto’s true motivation for creating a currency that dethrones the banking system was because he “doesn’t like the system we have today and wanted a different one that would be more equal.” I don’t know about you but if the bank took my home, I would be furious! Dorian's family once stated that he has an obsession with privacy. Keep in mind that whoever Nakamoto is, he’s good at covering his tracks. Satoshi Nakamoto has been a mystery for over a decade! Not to mention he used to work for projects linked to electronics and defense. Now that we have all those checkmarks, there is one more thing that gives Dorian a chance of being Satoshi. Since 2001 Dorian's history of employment became a mystery. Dorian left his stable job and the rest of Dorian is an enigma. Maybe he spent the last decade on Bitcoin? When Dorian was asked about his involvement in the currency he stated that “I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it. It’s been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection”. So we found Nakamoto right? Well, it's not guaranteed. Later Dorian claimed that he misunderstood the question and he did not create the currency.
Hal Finney
The first thing that surprised me was that Dorian Nakamoto and Hal Finney lived only a few blocks apart from each other, what are the chances? Another “coincidence” was that the first transaction ever recorded in Bitcoin history was to Hal Finney’s wallet. Even Hal was the first person (besides Satoshi Nakamoto) to mine Bitcoin. Not to mention that Hal was also very fond of privacy. He joined a cypherpunk chap way back in 1992. These cypherpunk chaps were meetings about various things such as privacy and technology. One of these meetings highlighted the idea of technology being anonymous for emailing, messaging, and paying for services and goods without knowing the identity of the other person. That almost perfectly describes the idea behind the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Another thing to touch on is the fact that those 1 million Bitcoins are laying around in a wallet. Maybe the real Satoshi doesn’t want to cash out, because the crypto economy would ultimately crash, but I don't see this to be the case. Possibly, the reason that this fortune is still untouched today is that the creator of Bitcoin has passed away. Hal Finney was diagnosed with ALS in 2009 and sadly passed away in 2014. To add some extra info, Hal worked at the PGB corporation and retired in 2011 because of ALS. For Hal to be Satoshi, we have to acknowledge that he messaged himself from the very beginning of Bitcoin to cover his tracks.
Conclusion
There are many more suspects including Paul Le Roux, Craig Wright, Nick Szabo, and even Elon Musk. I'm kidding about the last one (I think). No matter who the true Satoshi Nakamoto is if that be Hal Finney, Dorian Nakamoto, or even Craig Wright I believe the crypto space would be severely damaged if Nakamoto’s identity was revealed. Were talking about a decentralized currency here, having 1 million Bitcoins gives way too much money and power to an individual. Besides Craig Wright and Elon Musk, I believe the individuals on this list have a chance of being the founding father of Bitcoin. I hope you learned something new while reading this article. If you enjoyed please leave a clap and comment on your views about this topic. As always, have a great day my friend!