Satoshi Nakamoto is the name of the presumed creator of bitcoin. According to what is believed, Satoshi Nakamoto developed and launched bitcoin in 2009 and stayed active in the digital currency’s deployment and implementation till 2010.
Is Satoshi Nakamoto a real person?
Many theories have emerged over the years regarding Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity, many of them conspiratorial.
Popular theories about the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto
1. A group of persons
One of the more common theories about Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity is that he is not just one person but a group of persons who worked together to develop bitcoin, including the currency’s first blockchain database, in 2009. It is believed that the name Satoshi Nakamoto was coined from letters taken from the actual names of those who invented bitcoin.
2. A group of companies
Another popular theory explaining the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is that the name represents a group of companies involved in the creation of bitcoin.
This theory has been further strengthened by a recent tweet from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk where he appears to hint that the name SATOSHI NAKAMOTO represents four companies – SA from Samsung, TOSHI from Toshiba, NAKA from Nakamichi and MOTO from Motorola.
3. Elon Musk
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been rumoured to be the face behind Bitcoin for several years. He is even speculated to have personally coined the Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym in order to mask his identity. The speculations were probably stirred by Musk’s fascination with Bitcoin and the discovery that bitcoin value goes up whenever he tweets about the currency.
However, during an interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast in December 2021, Elon Musk denied being Satoshi Nakamoto. He maintained that he’s “100%” not Nakamoto and would admit it if he was.
4. Nick Szabo
Also during his podcast, Elon Musk while maintaining he is not the creator of bitcoin guessed that the digital currency might have been invented by popular computer scientist and cryptographer, Nick Szabo.
Another evidence supporting speculations of Nick Szabo being bitcoin’s true creator is the fact that he worked on his own cryptocurrency called “Bit Gold” in 1998. However, “Bit Gold” was never deployed.
Conclusion
As it stands now, the real face behind the name Satoshi Nakamoto remains a mystery yet to be unravelled.
