Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin White Paper in 2008, then launched the Bitcoin network in January 2009 and disappeared from the scene not long after. Since then, we have never heard from the pseudonymous developer of Bitcoin and speculation continues about the identity of the man, woman or group behind the digital currency.
Now there seems to be some new information again from Gene Hoffman’s sleevethe CEO of the Chia network.
Old Bitcoin in motion
The reason for the revival of the discussion about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is the coming to life of a 10-year-old wallet with 1,432 Bitcoin. That Bitcoin is currently worth close to $40 million and, in theory, could belong to someone who knew Satoshi Nakamoto.
Gene Hoffman suggests on Twitter that Satoshi Nakamoto could just be a bunch of people. Hal Finney and Len Sassaman are the two most likely candidates to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but both of them are sadly gone.
Possibly they were also both part of the Satoshi team, if it had been a group. Phil Zimmermannn, the developer of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is also often on the speculation list, but according to Hoffman he does not belong.
Furthermore, a Twitter user suggests that Bram Cohen may also have been involved in the construction of Bitcoin. He was part of the legendary Cypherpunk mailing list where Satoshi first announced his creation and a close friend of Len Sassaman.
Who was Len Sassaman
Len Sassaman was a Cypherpunk who worked as a developer on encryption for PGP and other open-source privacy technologies. He also worked as an academic cryptographer with David Chaum on P2P network research.
Hal Finney was the first to receive a transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto. The first computer to connect with Satoshi was Finney’s. He could have staged it himself.
In the end, however, it all remains speculation, because Satoshi Nakamoto has been able to keep quiet for 14 years. There are those who believe that this is also better for Bitcoin, because in the end it should not be about a person, but about the network.