Craig Steven Wright, an Australian computer scientist, self-declared cyber security expert and entrepreneur, has claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin, the elusive ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’.
Yesterday, he published a blog post offering what was claimed to be cryptographic proof, backed up by other information, to make his case. Along with the BBC and GQ, The Economist had access to Mr Wright before the publication of his post. The BBC are definitively saying that Wright is Nakamoto. The Economist is being more cautious and their conclusion is that he could well be Mr Nakamoto,“but that nagging questions remain.”
“In fact, it may never be possible to prove beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin. Whether people, particularly bitcoin cognoscenti, actually believe Mr Wright will depend greatly on what he does next, after going public.”
Wright penned his own blog post claiming to be Nakamoto but also of importance is the fact that Bitcoin Foundation chief scientist Gavin Andresen — a man that used to be the bitcoin project lead and one of the most respected experts in the bitcoin community — wrote that he, too, believed Wright was the elusive bitcoin creator.
There are other very well informed people who believe that Wright is in fact the creator of bitcoin. These include Jon Matonis, Founding Director at Bitcoin Foundation, who blogged about it yesterday here. Matonis had a “private proof session” in March and said that he “had the opportunity to review the relevant data along three distinct lines: cryptographic, social, and technical. Based on what I witnessed, it is my firm belief that Craig Steven Wright satisfies all three categories.”
Our friend Dominic Frisby, the author of Bitcoin: The Future of Money? also thinks that Wright, with others, may be Satoshi and shared his thoughts with us this morning:
“Anybody who had ever had any interest in bitcoin, has been intrigued by the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto.
It has spawned a plethora of online sleuths – your truly included – but Craig Wright’s name had never really been thrown into the mix. But when the Wired story came out last December – broken by Andy Greenberg – who has his finger on the pulse of the ‘cypherpunks’ more than any journalist and Gwern who I worked with on my own book and know the be extremely thorough, you have to sit up and take notice.
Satoshi Nakamoto appears to have been the work of Wright but also of internet forensics expert, Dave Kleiman who sadly died in 2013.
From what I can deduce, Kleiman did the writing and Wright did the coding. Wrights appears to have been the ideas man and Kleiman the “heavy lifter”. If you read Wrights ‘s prose it is not as error free as Satoshi’s was which confirms my believe that Satoshi was a partnership.
In my book, I outlined how Nick Szabo was likely Satoshi but the story has moved on. Bitcoin and the blockchain are both landmark inventions and enormous credit should go to all those that made it happen. Bitcoin was and is a collaborative effort.”
Bitcoins are now accepted as payment for a vast variety of goods and services – everything from international money transfers to ransoms for data encrypted by computer viruses. There are currently about 15.5 million bitcoins in circulation. Each one is worth about $449.
Satoshi Nakamoto is believed to have amassed about one million Bitcoins which would give him a net worth, if all were converted to cash, of about $450 million.
Jon Matonis sums up the importance of bitcoin and the blockchain on his blog thus:
I believe that the massive tidal wave of decentralisation and future Bitcoin advancements will start to occur more rapidly now, setting the stage for society to realize the plethora of currently imagined innovations. However, at the center of all of this incredible progress will be the unwavering and critical value of the humble digital bearer token known as bitcoin.
Week’s Market Updates
Gold “Chart of The Decade” – Maths Suggest $10,000 Per Ounce Says Rickards
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Cyber Fraud At SWIFT – $81 Million Stolen From Central Bank
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Silver Prices Up 6% This Week and 25% YTD; Gold Up 1% This Week