Wright says he chose the fictional name Nakamoto after a 17th-century philosopher and merchant in Japan.
Advertisement
He told the BBC: “I was the main part of it, but other people helped me”.
“There are lots of stories out there that have been made up and I don’t like it hurting those people I care about”. Till Wright manages to convince all the skeptics and the Bitcoin community at large, the hunt for the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto is not over.
Jon Matonis, one of Bitcoin Foundation’s founding directors, shares Andresen’s views about the Bitcoin creator.
These keys had to be created by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used at the time by the currency’s creator, the broadcaster said.
Andersen’s endorsement of Wright’s claims was met with criticism, with those disbelieving the latter’s claim speculating that Andersen’s blog and website may have been hacked by those in Wright’s camp.
Jonathan Underwood, a technical adviser to Bitcoin startup Bitbank, said the proof Mr Wright posted on his blog was a signature from an old transaction and not evidence that the Australian actually controls Nakamoto’s private Bitcoin keys.
Researchers believe Nakamoto may be holding up to one million of the more than 15 million bitcoins now in circulation, which would make the creator worth around $440 million.
Wright, long-suspected of having created the crypto-currency, a form of digital money, on Monday published a blog post offering what he said was cryptographic proof that he is indeed Nakamoto.
“This incredible community’s passion and intellect and perseverance have taken my small contribution and nurtured it, enhanced it, breathed life into it”, he wrote.
However he did not state directly that he was Nakamoto.
“Satoshi is dead”, he wrote. “But this is only the beginning”.
It posted a video of him demonstrating the signing of a message with the public key associated with the first transaction ever done on bitcoin following its 2009 launch. Bitcoin’s longtime backers have recently split over the proper way to expand the network. He also shared technical demonstrations with the Economist, BBC and GQ to prove that he is indeed the person who developed the foundations on which Bitcoin is built upon. A report published by The Economist has also said that Wright could be Nakamoto.
Tech entrepreneur Zhenya Tsvetnenko, who exchanged emails and met Wright in Sydney about a possible business venture, told AFP previous year that Wright was smart enough to be bitcoin’s mastermind. Already, more than 15 billion Bitcoins are in existence. Wired later said new evidence suggested Wright might be perpetrating a hoax. 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. The Australian Tax Office ruled in December 2014 that cryptocurrency should be considered an asset, rather than a currency, for capital gains tax purposes.
Wright did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The shockwaves were clear as cypto-currency specialists gathered in NY for a conference on the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin and similar virtual forms of money.
Bitcoin allows people a way to make payments without using banks or national currencies such as the dollar or the euro.
Advertisement
The latest twist in bitcoin’s origins story is likely to feed the power vacuum that has plagued the virtual currency.
