For many, the biggest mystery in today’s crypto world is not how Bitcoin works, but who created it.

On October 31, 2008, a man named Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper on the cryptography mailing list. And this white paper also directly changed the history of currency. As shown below.

Over the years, many people have tried to uncover the true identity of the creator of Bitcoin, and many have been considered as possible candidates, with some even claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto themselves. However, to this day, no one has been able to provide clear evidence for their claims.

However, of all the currently known possible candidates, if you asked me to pick (guess) one, I would say with absolute certainty: He is the creator of Bitcoin.

But before I officially tell you who I chose, let us first understand some of Satoshi Nakamoto’s past experiences through some known information. Through these historical materials, we may also be able to understand what the real Satoshi Nakamoto wants us to know.

1. Satoshi Nakamoto and Bitcoin

In February 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto created the first online message board post dedicated to cryptocurrency on the P2P Foundation forum. In this post, Satoshi Nakamoto explained his main reasons for creating Bitcoin.

Satoshi Nakamoto wrote in the original post:

- I developed a new open source P2P electronic cash system called Bitcoin, which is completely decentralized with no central servers because everything is based on cryptographic proofs, not trust. Give it a try, or check out the screenshots and papers I designed.

- Traditional monetary institutions lent out money on the wave of the credit bubble with barely any reserves, and we must trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts and leave our privacy completely in their hands.

- But our privacy rights are always overridden by administrative authorities based on their principles and other issues, or at the behest of their superiors.

- It’s time we use the same thing to make money. With digital money based on cryptographic proofs, there is no need to trust third-party middlemen. Our money can be safe and transactions can be effortless.

A screenshot of Satoshi Nakamoto’s complete original post is as follows:

In the introduction of Satoshi Nakamoto's P2P Fund Forum profile, he claims to be a man from Japan, born on April 5, 1975.

But later, after extensive digging by many enthusiastic netizens, it was discovered that Satoshi Nakamoto’s behavior in the forum did not look Japanese at all.

Reason 1: He wrote the Bitcoin white paper and subsequent related posts in perfect English.

Reason 2: For someone living in Japan, his sleep patterns are very strange. Bitcoin forum member Stefan Thomas once mapped the timestamps of more than 500 posts by Satoshi Nakamoto and found that Satoshi never posted anything between 2pm and 8pm (Japan time).

Therefore, based on the judgments from the above two points, it is basically certain that Satoshi Nakamoto is not Japanese.

Later, Satoshi Nakamoto created the bitcointalk forum and posted the first message under the pseudonym "satoshi". On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block, known as the "genesis block." As shown below.

The following address is the address associated with the genesis block:

1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa

On January 3, 2009, the first batch of 50 Bitcoins was sent here, and the transaction was marked "No Inputs (Newly Generated Coins)".

Throughout the next 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto worked with other developers to modify the Bitcoin protocol. He also participated in the construction of the Bitcoin community and often communicated with other developers online.

In a post on July 28, 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto said something that later became widely circulated:

“If you don’t believe me or don’t get it, I don’t have time to try to convince you, sorry.”

"If you don't believe me or don't understand, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry."

Anyhow, suddenly one day, Satoshi Nakamoto left the community and handed his keys and passwords to Gavin Andresen (a developer of Bitcoin, as shown in the picture below).

At the same time, the Bitcoin domain name was also transferred to community members.

It wasn’t until the next year, on April 23, 2011, that Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, reappeared and published his last message. As shown below.

When developer Mike Hearn asked him if he had plans to rejoin the community, Satoshi responded directly (as shown in the picture below):

“I‘ve moved on to other things.It’s in good hands with Gavin and everyone.”

Then, Satoshi Nakamoto completely left the Bitcoin community and never appeared again, becoming a mystery in the encryption world for more than ten years.

2. Those who are believed to be or claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto

In the more than ten years since the birth of Bitcoin, many people have been discussing a question, that is: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Even Elon Musk previously tweeted information about Satoshi Nakamoto (as shown in the picture below), leading some to believe that Musk may be behind the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. However, I personally don't believe in this theory.

So next, let us sort it out together and see who are the people who are rumored to be or claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto?

Currently, there are many theories and opinions about who Satoshi Nakamoto might be. Some believe the name refers to a group of developers, while others believe Satoshi represents one person. The following are some widely circulated opinions on the Internet:

Character 1: Craig Wright

Craig Wright is an Australian computer scientist. He is also the only person to publicly claim that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. The scientist even specifically applied for U.S. copyright on the Bitcoin white paper and its early code.

For this reason, our Mr. Wright also received two awards in April 2019. But later, some sensible people pointed out that anyone in the United States can apply for copyright. Therefore, the award itself does not necessarily imply proof of ownership.

Another interesting story is that when a British journalist, Peter McCormack, publicly stated in his blog that he believed that Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto at all, Wright also sued the journalist for defamation. The final result was that Wright Won one pound in damages for emotional distress (sounds a bit funny doesn’t it).

Here is Mr. Craig Wright himself:

Person 2: Dorian Nakamoto

Dorian Nakamoto is an unemployed Japanese-American physicist living in California.

"Newsweek magazine" revealed in an article in March 2014 that Satoshi Nakamoto's real name is Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto. But Dorian Nakamoto quickly came forward and denied that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. In response to the Newsweek article, he said that the magazine's story had caused "tremendous confusion and stress" to himself and his family. He said, "I did not create, invent or otherwise research Bitcoin. I unconditionally deny the Newsweek report."

Character 3: Nick Szabo

Nick Szabo is a computer programmer and cryptographer who attempted to develop the first decentralized currency in the late 1990s: Bit Gold.

Although Bit Gold has some similarities with later Bitcoin projects, it was not made public until 2005, but even then, the Bit Gold project itself has not been fully implemented until now.

But regardless, today Szabo's work is still considered one of the direct pioneers of Bitcoin, so even some in the Bitcoin community believe that he may be Satoshi Nakamoto himself. Even Musk said in a live broadcast that he believed Szabo was Satoshi Nakamoto.

However, Szabo himself has always denied these rumors.

Character 4: Hal Finney

Compared to the above people, I am more willing to believe that Hal Finney is Satoshi Nakamoto.

Hal Finney is a cryptographer who received the first Bitcoin transfer directly from Satoshi Nakamoto himself in 2009. Therefore, some people believe that Satoshi Nakamoto is just the pseudonym of Hal Finney, and that the first transfer was just him sending the first batch of Bitcoins from himself to himself.

And someone also discovered that Hal Finney was the first person to download Bitcoin software after Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin, which seems to further confirm this statement. But within a few days, Hal Finney turned off the Bitcoin mining function on his computer, which, in his own words, made his computer "run hot."

Unfortunately, Hal Finney was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in 2009 and battled the disease until his death in 2014.

Hal Finney passed away. All we are left with now are rumors and speculation about the true identity of Bitcoin’s creator.

Special thanks for this article: belizardd, 0xTHades

Disclaimer: The above content is only for popular science learning and communication among enthusiasts. It does not constitute any investment advice. The encryption market is an extremely high-risk area. Please treat it rationally and increase risk awareness.