Bitcoin founder outs himself, provides proof
One of the larger unsolved mysteries in recent monetary memory has been who invented Bitcoin. That’s potentially been solved today.
Satoshi Nakamoto had been identified as the person or group that invented the currency, but an Australian entrepreneur named Craig Wright has publicly claimed the title of inventor of the currency as his own.
He provided some technical proofs such as possession of the first bitcoins, digitally signing message using early cryptographic keys linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, and generally being the only person willing to paint a giant target on himself and the team as those who might have the information to break the security of the five and a half trillion dollars of bitcoins in existence.
Don’t know about you, but if I had people believing that potentially the gross domestic product of Japan and Indonesia combined could be theirs if they just kidnapped the coding team, I’d probably keep my name out of the press and my head down.
While the cryptographic keys of the original Satoshi Nakamoto have been verified, they could have theoretically been compromised although there’s no particular reason I can think of to claim ownership of this.
Along with Craig Wright, it’s claimed a cryptographer by the name of Hal Finney was one of the engineers who turned Mr Wright’s ideas into the Bitcoin protocol.
Mr Wright claims he’ll be releasing some more cryptographic information for the public to be able to verify more readily that it is indeed he and Mr Finney that should be kidnapped and beaten until a Bitcoin backdoor is wrenched out of their tortured bodies, and not anyone named Satoshi Nakamoto. I’m being silly here, don’t kidnap and torture anyone.
The real reason he came forward appears to have been due to potential tax evasion charges and leaked documents that may have pinpointed him as the founder back in December.
It’s thought that Satoshi Nakamoto amassed about one million Bitcoins, making it worth around $450,000,000 in current USD.
[BBC]
