The ambiguous world of Bitcoin – a widely-used cryptocurrency that doesn’t require a bank or physical cash – is starting to become a bit clearer.
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Wright revealed his identity to three news agencies, namely the BBC, the Economist, and GQ.
Australian IT businessman Craig Wright has claimed on a blog post that he is Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Jon Matonis, one of the founding directors of the Bitcoin Foundation, which says it helps support the use of the currency, told the BBC he is convinced that Wright is who he claims to be and is responsible for a brilliant achievement.
The Economist is still unconvinced: “Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain”. Andresen said he met with Wright in London and was “convinced beyond a reasonable doubt” that Wright is the bitcoin founder.
Opponents have raised fears that a digital currency without a regulator or central bank is ripe for abuse by hackers and money launderers.
After Wright’s claim, Bitcoin fell more than 3% from $454.89 to below $440 and then recovered slightly. The payment system where transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a blockchain is the largest of its kind in terms of total market value. A third digital currency veteran – R3 architect Ian Grigg – followed up with a blog post confirming the revelation as well, and said Wright led a small team, which also consisted of Dave Kleiman, who died in 2013.
On Monday, Craig Wright, an Australian developer, assured in a blog post to be the creator of Bitcoin, a digital currency that has brought the attention of many government officials and even criminals looking for money laundering resources.
When they were introduced in 2009, Bitcoins were worth just a few pennies each.
Nakamato’s identity has been the subject of fierce speculation since he outlined the ideas behind bitcoin in an academic “white paper” in October 2008. After an investigation last December, wherein leaked documents connecting Wright to Bitcoin were sent to Wired, the magazine also does not believe Wright is the Bitcoin creator.
Later during the day, the other Bitcoin devs revoked Andresen’s commit access to Bitcoin’s core code.
Domenichini said there are 15 million Bitcoins in circulation but only 14 million can be spent. “I was the main part of it, other people helped me”, he said adding that identifying himself had been decided by other people who were making life hard for his family, friends and staff.
Cubrilovic believes Wright’s claim to have created Bitcoin could be linked to a raid on his house in December by agents investigating for the Australian Tax Office.
Wright also told BBC that he never meant to step forward to “be the public face” of Bitcoin.
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“You’d be nearly a billionaire”, says Brito.
