Who Is Bitcoin's Founder Satoshi Nakamoto?

If you've recently invested in bitcoin, you may wonder who Satoshi Nakamoto - the cryptocurrency's founder- is.

Inspiration for countless other cryptocurrencies and individuals, such as Shiba Inu founder Ryoshi, Satoshi's identity has been shrouded in mystery since bitcoin's inception.

So, are there any clues as to who this mysterious crypto-icon is?

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

While numerous individuals have been linked with the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, there is no definitive answer as to who the bitcoin founder actually is.

Dorian Nakamoto was named as the creator of Bitcoin by Newsweek in 2014. However, Nakamoto has fiercely denied these allegations. Newsweek's piece centres around Dorian Nakamoto's engineering background, Japanese origins, and libertarian attitudes following financial issues in the 1990s.

The bitcoin community has widely rejected the Newsweek piece, taking issue with the image of Dorian Nakamoto's house. This, for a community organised around a decentralised currency, was deemed a huge violation of privacy. The community raising 102 BTC for Nakamoto in the aftermath.

Indeed, Satoshi themself clearly took issue with this too. After Dorian denied involvement, the bitcoin creator resurfaced, and said: "I am not Dorian Nakamoto."

While Dorian Nakamoto may have reluctantly been linked to the identity, Australian Craig Wright was more than happy to be linked to Satoshi. Wired highlighted Wright's August 2008 blog post that references his intentions to release a "cryptocurrency paper", some three months before the Bitcoin whitepaper's release in November 2008.

Several of Wright's posts suggested he had links to the early days of bitcoin, but these claims became undone. Wright's credentials were dismissed in the days after these reports. Wired also found that Wright's blog posts may have been back-dated.

Various other names have been thrown around for Satoshi's identity, but these have not stuck.

The only clues we currently have for Satoshi's identity are flimsy at best. Satoshi is believed to be from the UK, as the coinbase parameter for the first bitcoin block, or the Genesis block, contains the text: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks".

This use of The Times, along with Satoshi's use of certain slang, suggests he could be from the UK.

Alternatively, John McAfee and Laszlo Hanyecz - a developer who made the first purchase with bitcoin - believe Satoshi to be a team of people.

However, alternative stories suggest that Satoshi Nakamoto will likely never come forward, either because he is unable to access his bitcoin wallet, or is perhaps even dead.

Satoshi Nakamoto Net Worth: How Many Bitcoin Does Satoshi Own?

Saoshi Nakamoto by far holds the most bitcoin compared to anybody.

A recent paper published in 2019 suggests that Satoshi holds between 1,000,000 and 1,100,000 BTC, earned through early bitcoin mining in 2009 and 2010.

This would mean Satoshi holds between $32.44bn and $35.68bn in bitcoin, based on the current pricing. With a max supply of 21,000,000 BTC, Satoshi could hold upwards of 5% of all bitcoin.

Of course, this is just Satoshi's bitcoin net worth. If the bitcoin founder invested in other cryptocurrency at the beginning, they could be worth a lot more.

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