Who is Satoshi and Does it Even Matter?

Executive Order 6102 is an executive order signed on April 5, 1933, by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States." This significant intervention in monetary policy is, coincidentally, the month and day date chosen by Satoshi Nakamoto on their verified profile on the P2P Foundation Forums. The profile's date was no coincidence—Satoshi deliberately also chose 1975 as their birth year, marking when Executive Order 6102 was repealed. Brilliant trolling. And this choice reflects Satoshi's deep understanding of how government monetary policies have historically affected citizens. By selecting 1975 as their birth year, Satoshi may have wanted their pseudonymous identity to represent the end of government control over money. Since Satoshi's disappearance in 2010, we can only speculate about their specific reasons for choosing this date.

Yet Satoshi's brief appearance and disappearance offer valuable lessons on who he or she or they might be. So who IS he/she/they? Now, that's a great question. Nobody knows. But that hasn't stopped people from claiming to be Satoshi. Of course, not one of these claimants has provided indisputable proof.

In an early bitcointalk forum, Satoshi revealed they began working on Bitcoin in 2007, two years before mining the first block. This Genesis block—the first in the Bitcoin blockchain—was mined on January 3, 2009. While Nakamoto received the first 50 bitcoins from this block, these coins were unusable due to a quirk in the Genesis block's code. According to BitMEX Research, "someone" mined 700,000 coins in Bitcoin's early days. Many believe this was Satoshi, though it remains unproven. And these coins have never been moved! Nobody has ever touched them. Unless he/they lost the key, which seems unlikely, perhaps we can extrapolate that fortune was never their goal. And keeping their anonymity is paramount to them. Or, perhaps they are no longer with us.

If Satoshi's identity were revealed, they would likely face instant fame and fortune. (Like in the multiple billion dollar fortune department.) So naturally, over the years, several people have either claimed to be Satoshi or been identified as potential candidates. Paradoxically, it feels like because they seek the spotlight, they can be scratched off the list. But this is a fun rabbit hole to fall down into.

False Claims

Among the most notorious claims is that of Craig S. Wright, an Australian academic. Since 2015, Wright has repeatedly tried to prove he created Bitcoin, but his evidence has been exposed as fabricated. He is full of baloney.

In another case, a newspaper journalist identified Dorian Nakamoto, a California resident, as Bitcoin's creator based on several coincidences—primarily their shared surname. This claim was quickly denied by Dorian and disproven. Or was it?

A recent piece by Nathaniel Popper in The New York Times makes the case that if the creator was indeed an individual, he was “probably” BitGold inventor and noted cryptocurrency expert Nick Szabo, not Dorian Nakamoto (although Szabo, too, refutes these claims).

The cryptography community has also speculated about Satoshi's identity. Hal Finney, a pioneering cryptographer, drew interest as the first recipient of a bitcoin transaction from Satoshi. During Bitcoin's first year, they exchanged numerous forum posts about the technology's development. After Finney's death from ALS in 2014, questions arose about his role in creating the first decentralized currency.

Why Satoshi Should Stay Anonymous

Satoshi's anonymity may serve a crucial purpose for the world's first decentralized currency. By creating a protocol without a single point of failure, Nakamoto likely realized that their own identity could become Bitcoin's final vulnerability. It's like a spy movie! Remaining anonymous eliminates the one person who could unduly influence Bitcoin's politics, rules, and governance. There is nobility in that anonymity.

Whoever Satoshi is/are, they are undeniably a genius of our time. The Bitcoin protocol elegantly combines economic incentives to solve the Byzantine Generals' Problem. Through their deep understanding of cryptography, mathematics, game theory, and economics, Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin—the world's first beautifully designed, digitally scarce asset.