Who Could Be Bitcoin's "Father" Satoshi Nakamoto?

The search for Satoshi Nakamoto's identity is gaining traction in the cryptocurrency community, with many theories surrounding prominent figures in cryptography.

Finding Satoshi

The "father" of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto forever changed the world of finance and technology when he released the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008. More than a decade later, Nakamoto's identity and the whereabouts of his 1.1 million BTC fortune remain one of the biggest mysteries in blockchain history.

Previously, figures such as Craig Wright, Dorian Nakamoto, and Nick Szabo were rumored by the media to be the father of Bitcoin. However, the investigation into Satoshi's identity quickly fell into a deadlock when Craig Wright was declared not to be Satoshi by the court, while Dorian Nakamoto has repeatedly denied that he has anything to do with Bitcoin.

Although Nick Szabo has been considered a potential candidate for his significant contributions to the cryptocurrency space, there is no solid evidence to support this hypothesis. This has left Satoshi’s true identity a mystery.

When HBO announced the release of a documentary that would premiere at 9:00 AM on October 9 (Vietnam time) with the claim that it would reveal the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency community was abuzz with new speculations and hypotheses. Speculation about who is behind Bitcoin is once again being analyzed, with prominent figures in the cryptography and blockchain world such as Len Sassaman, Hal Finney, Adam Back, and Nick Szabo emerging as potential candidates on the Polymarket prediction market with a total amount of bets now exceeding $11 million,

Most Likely Names

Nick Szabo - Top Candidate on Polymarket

On Polymarket, bettors currently rate Nick Szabo, the developer of Bit Gold, as the top candidate for the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto with odds of up to 16.6%.

Szabo created Bit Gold – an unsuccessful project that is considered a precursor to Bitcoin. Although Bit Gold was never implemented, it introduced many groundbreaking ideas that Satoshi later built and perfected in Bitcoin including P2P networking, Proof-of-Work mechanism, and cryptographic concepts.

However, Szabo has repeatedly denied that he is Satoshi. However, many analysts and fans have continued to speculate based on the similarities in thinking and writing style between him and Satoshi. This suspicion is further reinforced by the use of words and text analysis that shows many similarities between Szabo's and Satoshi's writings.

Additionally, there is much speculation about why Nick Szabo deleted the Bit Gold article in 2005 and then reposted it in 2008. If we check the article through the Wayback Machine, we see that it was originally published in December 2005. Some have suggested that Szabo may have deleted the article to adjust or refine the idea of ​​Bit Gold after seeing areas for improvement. The reappearance of the article in 2008, close to the time of Bitcoin's launch, further fueled suspicions that Szabo may have been closely involved in Bitcoin's development.

In addition, billionaire Elon Musk once claimed that Nick Szabo was Satoshi. Many also realized that in an interview 6 years ago, Szabo seemed to accidentally reveal more evidence when he accidentally said "While I was building Bitcoin", adding more basis for Musk's speculations about Nick Szabo.

Len Sassaman – Coincidence with the time of Satoshi Nakamoto’s disappearance

Len Sassaman was a major influence in the Cypherpunk movement, which advocated privacy and freedom through cryptography. He contributed to the development of technologies such as PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and the remailer system – technologies that provide security and anonymity similar to Bitcoin.

In addition, Sassaman worked closely with Hal Finney, one of the first and most important contributors to Bitcoin after Satoshi Nakamoto. Finney was the first person to receive Bitcoin from Satoshi and was also the first person other than Satoshi to write Bitcoin code and run a Bitcoin node. The close relationship between him and Finney has led to suspicions that both may have been involved in the early development of Bitcoin.

In 2021, Evan Leung Hatch published a research paper that theorized that Len Sassaman was Satoshi Nakamoto. Hatch noted many similarities between Sassaman and Satoshi's writing style. Notably, the Bitcoin Genesis block contained a newspaper headline from The Times, a version that only circulated in the UK and Europe. Although Sassaman was American, he used British English in his writing, similar to Satoshi.

One of the reasons Sassaman became a candidate was that he died in July 2011, just months after Satoshi Nakamoto sent his final email and disappeared from the Bitcoin community in April 2011. This created a mysterious coincidence between Satoshi's disappearance and Sassaman's departure. This connection has led many to believe that Sassaman could be Satoshi, or at least have played a significant role in the creation of the Bitcoin system.

However, in 2021, Meredith L. Patterson, Sassaman's wife, repeatedly denied the possibility that her husband was the founder of Bitcoin. She also emphasized that Sassaman primarily used MacOS, while Bitcoin was originally developed on the Linux platform. On top of that, she also shared that HBO did not contact her to make the documentary.

Additionally, documentary producer Cullen Hoback told CNN on October 7 that he had personally met the person he believed to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto, which virtually ruled out the possibility that Sassaman was the founder of Bitcoin since he passed away in 2011, reducing his odds on Polymarket to just 8.5%.

Hal Finney – Recipient of Satoshi’s First Bitcoin Transaction

Hal Finney was one of the first people the community suspected of being Satoshi. As a cryptographer and programmer, Finney was not only the recipient of Satoshi’s first Bitcoin transaction, but also contributed heavily to the early development of the network. The “Reusable Proof-of-Work” technology that Finney developed is believed to have inspired the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism that Bitcoin uses.

Finney not only had a close relationship with Satoshi, but was also the first person to run a node on the Bitcoin network. Although he has always denied being Satoshi, Finney’s close connection to the early stages of Bitcoin’s development has always kept him on the list of top candidates.

Finney suffered from ALS and died in 2014. While there is no solid evidence that he was Satoshi, his significant contributions to the Bitcoin project have led many to believe that he may have been the creator of the king coin.

Adam Back – The Man Mentioned by Satoshi in the Bitcoin Whitepaper

Adam Back, the inventor of the Hashcash algorithm, was one of 10 people cited in the original Bitcoin whitepaper. This has led many to speculate that he may be Satoshi Nakamoto. Before founding Blockstream, a company developing scaling solutions for Bitcoin, Back was best known for inventing Hashcash in 1997 – a Proof-of-Work system that Bitcoin uses as its consensus mechanism.

Some theorize that Back founded Blockstream to capitalize on his contributions to Bitcoin development without selling Satoshi’s Bitcoins, which have never been moved. Additionally, Back was one of the first two people to establish contact with Satoshi during the development of Bitcoin, further fueling suspicions about his role.

However, Back has repeatedly denied being Satoshi, most recently on October 8. He has even argued that keeping Satoshi's identity secret is essential. According to him, Bitcoin should be considered "digital gold" and that Satoshi remaining anonymous will help maintain this image, similar to how gold has no specific founder.

Back shared in 2019: "Bitcoin is like digital gold, you don't want gold to have a founder. For Bitcoin to maintain its image as a commodity, it's best if Satoshi stays out of the public eye."

Conclusion

Determining the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto would not only solve one of the biggest mysteries in the cryptocurrency space, but could have far-reaching implications for the entire global financial and blockchain markets. If Satoshi is dead or no longer has access to the 1.1 million Bitcoins he (or his group) owns, causing the Bitcoin supply to plummet, the price of Bitcoin could skyrocket after the film’s release.

The HBO documentary may not provide a definitive answer, but it has once again stirred up debates surrounding the identity of Bitcoin’s founder. Is the real person behind the name Satoshi Nakamoto one of the above names? Or will this mystery be buried forever in the history of blockchain?