In 2010, that same person disappeared from the scene, never to be heard of again. His last public communication was related to the whistleblower site Wikileaks. The message read: “WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet’s nest, and the swarm is headed towards us … I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.”
In the years since, many have tried to crack the Satoshi riddle and failed — the first high-profile attempt being that of journalist Leah McGrath Goodman in 2014. She identified Japanese-American Dorian Nakamoto as a suspect, but he denied the assertion, while others in the community remained unconvinced by her reporting.
In 2016, Australian cryptographer Craig Steven Wright stepped forward to claim the title, having been reluctantly doxxed as Satoshi in documents leaked to the press the year before. Despite being endorsed by some high-profile early community members, his campaign to convince the world he was the creator of Bitcoin was torpedoed at the last minute when he inexplicably failed to provide his promised proof. His aggressive pursuit of anyone who questioned him with lawsuits also added doubt to the claims.
Subsequent trials completed Wright’s undoing. In March this year a British High Court judge ruled that Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto. The self-declared savant — who had been bankrolled in his cases by gambling tycoon Calvin Ayre — is now facing perjury charges.
The unusual suspects
Among those most commonly suspected to be Satoshi are the late software engineer Hal Finney, systems engineer Dorian Nakamoto, computer scientist Nick Szabo and Hashcash inventor Adam Back.
But many in the Bitcoin community reject attempts to identify Satoshi, arguing the importance of his right to privacy. They argue that without associated proof — critically, the transfer of coins from a known Satoshi wallet — all claims are merely speculative.
“For years, there’s been endless speculation about the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, both in print and in media,” said Peter McCormack, a Bitcoin podcaster who had been sued for questioning Craig Wright’s claims. “Yet, until someone signs the private keys linked to Satoshi’s addresses, all of this remains mere conjecture.
“Satoshi gave the world a profound gift in Bitcoin,” he continued, “but deliberately chose to remain anonymous — a decision that must be respected. Efforts to unmask them are not just irresponsible but potentially dangerous.”
