Craig Steven Wright, an Australian entrepreneur, publicly identified himself Monday as the creator of the digital currency Bitcoin, apparently ending months of speculation.
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The BBC reported on Monday (May 2) that Wright gave some technical proof demonstrating that he had access to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created by bitcoin’s creator. Wright mentioned that he was the main person involved in creation of the bitcoin currency system, but also accepted that other people have helped him.
In December, both Wired and Gizmodo named Wright to be the creator of bitcoin. However, a couple of years ago, a NewsWeek cover story-“The Face Behind Bitcoin”-wrongly identified Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto as the inventor of Bitcoin”. He backed up Wright’s claim as he passed his verification of the data he presented. The Australian Taxation Office said the raid was linked to a long-running investigation into tax payments rather than Bitcoin. Bitcoin fell more than 3 percent after news of Wright’s claims, from US$454.89 to below US$440, before recovering slightly.
Likewise, Jon Matonis, a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation, believes that Wright is telling the truth.
Brito and several other cyrpto-currency experts are not convinced. Mr. Wright told the BBC, The Economist and GQ that he was the currency’s founder. “Nakamoto, as most know, is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin – investors and regulators could view this as a security – and it was in this context that Wright mentioned his “running” Bitcoin to the authorities”.
And with that, Wright tried to settle the question of who actually created bitcoin. A white paper on the virtual currency was released under the name of Nakamoto in 2008 detailing the concept of peer-to-peer electronic cash before software was rolled out in early 2009. He also thanked his staff whose privacy he vehemently defended in the BBC interview. Instead, its community of users control and regulate it. “You have given the world a great gift”.
The “Bitcoin” mystery is now solved. Now the price of one bitcoin is over $400.
FILE – In this April 7, 2014 file photo, a man arrives for the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in NY.
At the same token, Bitcoin is being recognized as a growing, powerful technology that is helping small businesses flourish.
In December 2013, hopes that it would become a mainstream currency buoyed it’s price to more than $1,000 per coin giving it a market capitalization of $13 billion.
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David Glance, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Western Australia, who has worked with Wright in the past, told the Guardian he remained “highly sceptical”.
