Australian computer scientist and businessman Craig Steven Wright has revealed himself as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the digital money system known as Bitcoin. His admission was also supported by the core development team and prominent members of the Bitcoin community, according to the BBC. The publications were shown digitally signed messages sent in the early days of the technology that are linked to Bitcoins that are known to have been owned by Satoshi Nakamoto.
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Jon Matonis, founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation, gave Wright’s demonstration legitimacy and said that he believes that the Australian cryptography guru is truly the man that created Bitcoin.
In a blog post dated Monday, Wright appeared to out himself as bitcoin founder by posting a technical explanation, including examples of code, of the process by which he created the currency.
“Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain”, The Economist reported.
A man claiming to be the inventor of Bitcoin has gone public, saying he wants to allay fears about the digital currency and help people understand its potential. Nakamoto is believed to have about 1 million Bitcoins, about $450 million in exchange, so if Wright is actually the creator he should have that amount into his account. Subsequent Australian federal police raids on Wright’s home which lent credence to the theory but the raids were later confirmed to have been about separate tax issues and unrelated to Bitcoin. Months ago, Wired and Gizmodo pointed the finger at Wright as Nakamoto.
“The key he posted on his blog is actually publicly available information”, said Mr Kano, who quit Goldman Sachs to open BitFlyer in 2014. The New Yorker, Fast Company, Newsweek and many other media organisations have all conducted long investigations seeking Bitcoin’s creator and named many different people as candidates. Wright said, “Some people will believe, some people won’t and to tell you the truth I don’t really care”.
Wright said he plans to provide hints to allow others to cryptographically verify his identity.
Some online commentators suggested Bitcoin’s creator could help resolve a bitter row among the currency’s software developers that threatens its future. “I don’t want any of them to be impacted by this”, he said.
Today, there are about 15.5 million Bitcoins in circulation.
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Mr Andresen said he could not explain why Mr Wright had chosen such a “funky” procedure as a proof. “In fact, it may never be possible to prove beyond reasonable doubt who really created Bitcoin”.
