Bitcoin inventor unmasked? British entrepreneur contradicts New York Times
An editor at the New York Times claims to have unmasked the inventor of Bitcoin after months of research. He promptly and decisively contradicts this.
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A British co-founder of the Bitcoin service provider Blockstream has rejected the central finding of an extensive research by the New York Times and assured that he did not invent the cryptocurrency: "I am not Satoshi," Adam Back wrote in response to the publication of the article. Back is no stranger in the search for the identity of the Bitcoin inventor with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. According to the US newspaper, he has been among a small group of people suspected of being behind it for years. Back has therefore denied in conversations with the New York Times editor that it was him, but he made a mistake at one point.
Telltale spellings?
In the extensive article, attention is drawn primarily to similarities in writing style between Nakamoto and Back. For example, they share by far the most spelling mistakes or unusual spellings, for instance, when it comes to how hyphens are used. In addition, Back has always spoken extensively in the relevant online forums whenever there were new plans for digital money – with one exception: after the presentation of Bitcoin, he remained conspicuously silent for a long time. When Back vehemently opposed protocol changes to Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto suddenly came to his aid, even though he had not commented for years before. However, the authors of the article do not provide conclusive proof.
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The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is considered one of IT's best-kept secrets. Alleged identifications appear again and again, but none have been convincing so far. Most recently, Australian Craig Wright failed in his attempt to obtain judicial recognition as the Bitcoin inventor. At the end of 2024, he was even sentenced to prison for the associated harassment. The question is also important because Nakamoto possesses about 1.1 million Bitcoins. These are currently worth almost 70 billion US dollars. John Carreyrou is now convinced he has solved the puzzle because Back responded to an inquiry about a quote from Satoshi Nakamoto with: "I talked a lot back then." He thus implicitly acknowledged that the sentence originated from him. Back has now rejected this.
(mho)
