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Adam Back has long held rarefied status in the Bitcoin world as a pioneering cryptographer whose work was cited by Satoshi Nakamoto and who has himself been rumored to be Bitcoin's elusive creator, according to Bloomberg. But as the industry undergoes another shakeout, several businesses linked to him are showing strain: a public-market deal for a Bitcoin treasury firm he promoted has collapsed, legal disputes are dogging a mining business he helped found, and a $320 million hack has roiled his Blockstream Corp., one of crypto's oldest infrastructure companies. Back did not respond to requests for comment. The setbacks reflect broader pressure as the industry retrenches from the speculative boom unleashed by President Donald Trump's return to the White House, with Bitcoin still about one-third below last year's record.

Back co-founded Blockstream in 2014 and later launched a mining arm, spun off about two years ago. President Michael Minkevich said the split lets the company focus on infrastructure, calling mining "capital intense" and "not a good fit." The spun-off Blockstream Mining partnered with Exacore, run by long-time Back associate Chris Cook. Over the past year Exacore has laid off workers and faced disputes over unpaid bills after raising about $2 billion. A Blockstream spokesperson said it "does not have any operational involvement or affiliation with Exacore."

Cook, sentenced to 41 months for mail fraud in 2008 and recently sued over a Boeing 767, was among executives who lobbied Trump during the 2024 campaign and hosted him at a Nashville conference where the then-nominee pledged to make America "the crypto capital of the planet." Blockstream raised $210 million after that event and said in April 2025 the mining unit had raised over $350 million. Its 2024 note BMN2, managed by Luxembourg's SICOS Securities, was boosted from $200 million to $2 billion in October 2025. Back held a minority interest and adviser role, now ended, and is named in a 2025 document as director of BMN2 borrower BM OpCo, though Blockstream said he holds no ownership.

Exacore, which says it runs 13 mining sites, faces suits from Giga Energy, BLS Electrical over nearly $1 million and Xcel Energy over $1.1 million. Meanwhile the $4 billion treasury firm BSTR collapsed after Cantor Fitzgerald terminated their deal in late August, saying BSTR owed it $15 million. Weeks later Blockstream's Liquid Network was hit by the $320 million hack draining about 4,000 Bitcoin; hackers claiming to be white hats returned 3,400 Bitcoin but apparently kept $47 million. Blockstream said keeping the funds "is not white-hat activity. It is theft."