DeutschAnyone who has looked into Bitcoin in more detail will almost inevitably have come across the name Satoshi Nakamoto. As is known today, this is either a person or a group, but in any case, Nakamoto is a pseudonym.
What Do We Know about Satoshi Nakamoto?
It is certain that Nakamoto is a pseudonym and that the inventor of the still best-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is behind it. It is also proven that the Bitcoin whitepaper was published under this pseudonym in 2008. A year later, the so-called Bitcoin Core was also published. Basically, that was all that is actually known about Satoshi Nakamoto with any certainty.
Which Claims and Assumptions are Pure Speculation?
While only a few essential facts about Nakamoto are certain, there is significantly more speculation and therefore unconfirmed claims. It is not even certain that Satoshi Nakamoto was Japanese, even
though the name or the choice of pseudonym would naturally suggest this. On the other hand, the fact that the Bitcoin Whitepaper was written in absolutely flawless English with many technical terms and that no documentation has ever been published in Japanese speaks against this.
To this day, there is speculation about who is actually behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. In the past, especially in the first years after the publication of the Bitcoin Whitepaper, there were various people who, in some cases, falsely claimed to be Satoshi N. themselves – in retrospect – or who were suspected by third parties of being the person behind the pseudonym. The “suspects” included:
- Hal Finney (software developer)
- Nick Szabo (computer scientist)
- Elon Musk (entrepreneur and one of the founders of PayPal)
The Australian entrepreneur Craig Steven Wright probably caused the biggest stir. He claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin and to have deliberately chosen the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Although there was initially a lot to suggest that this claim was true, because a digital signature was published by Wright, which, according to experts, could only be generated by Nakamoto’s private key.
