Newsweek Claims To Have Found The Creator Of Bitcoin

A report by Newsweek claims to have found the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, the peer-to peer virtual currency with a market cap of at least £4.8 billion by today’s prices, and he is actually called Satoshi Nakamoto.

The man from California has apparently admitted he created the protocol, but said he no longer has any connection to the project, and refused to provide further clarification. The rest of the evidence quoted in the article has been dismissed by some critics as circumstantial.

Will the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up

Bitcoin is a decentralised cryptocurrency especially popular among people interested in keeping their transactions secret. It is not tied to any real money, but traded on various electronic exchanges to establish its price.

The Bitcoin protocol was originally introduced on 3 January 2009 by a developer known only as ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, which most conspiracy theorists took for a pseudonym. Over the years, there have been countless attempts to track down ‘Satoshi’, with different sources claiming he was an academic, a visionary teenage hacker, and some even suggested the whole thing was invented by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

According to Newsweek, the truth is far less glamorous. The publication paints a portrait of a tired 64-year old man who has six kids, lives in a Los Angeles suburb and loves model steam trains. He allegedly created bitcoin for political reasons, and has never been interested in wealth.

The cryptography expertise seems to match the bitcoin inventor’s profile, with Satoshi having worked for the US IT and defence corporations, as well as the military. According to his brother Arthur Nakamoto, this included “classified stuff”.

The article claims Nakmoto never told anyone he was working on the virtual currency, not even his family. The fate of $400 million worth of bitcoins thought to be held by their inventor is still unknown.

Newsweek’s coverage has been criticised as inconclusive and unprofessional, since it revealed Nakamoto’s real address, thus destroying any hope he might have for a normal life, something this very private man clearly values. Gavin Andresen, lead developer at The Bitcoin Project, said he regretted his involvement with Newsweek’s story and that he was disappointed that the publication went after the Nakamoto family.

I’m disappointed Newsweek decided to dox the Nakamoto family, and regret talking to Leah.

— Gavin Andresen (@gavinandresen) March 6, 2014

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