​​Who Is Most Likely Satoshi Nakamoto, The Inventor Of Bitcoin

Introducing The Bitcoin Founder

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Back in 2008, the Bitcoin whitepaper appeared, detailing how the world financial system needed to change, and proposing cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin, as an alternative path to offering a fair and transparent economy.

Satoshi Nakamoto's compelling thesis and whitepaper began to draw attention. Now, it is recognized as the birthplace of cryptocurrency mass adoption. Considering the incredible impact of Bitcoin’s existence, it’s only right that crypto investors the world over would like to recognize its creator.

However, it’s not that easy. Satoshi Nakamoto is an elusive character. To this day, nobody can answer the question of who is Satoshi Nakamoto with 100% certainty. However, in this article, we’re going to discuss different theories that have been presented over the years.

So, let’s get down to finding Satoshi Nakamoto.

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How Much Bitcoin Does Satoshi Have?

You probably think that the founder of Bitcoin is incredibly wealthy – your assumption is correct. They are one of the wealthiest people in the world.

The great thing about cryptocurrency is its transparency. Thanks to this, anyone is able to see how much Bitcoin is in any wallet and the transactions that have been made using that address.

Satoshi holds around 5% of all mined Bitcoin. 1 Bitcoin, at its all-time high, was $68,789.63, and Satoshi has 1 million in their wallet, so their wealth is astronomical.

What may come as a surprise is that no transactions have ever taken place from this wallet. Since the beginning, Satoshi has been holding this large percentage of Bitcoin, attesting to their belief and dedication to the whitepaper thesis they originally presented.

Satoshi Nakamoto Net Worth is approximately $48 billion.

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Who Is The Real Satoshi Nakamoto?

As mentioned, Satoshi Nakamoto is an elusive character. It’s almost certain that they used a pseudonym to author the whitepaper, communicate in forums, and create Bitcoin. To this day, nobody knows if Satoshi is male, female, an individual, or a group.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, whose founder is Vitalik Buterin – a highly public figure, Satoshi disappeared almost as quickly as Bitcoin appeared.

April 26th, 2011, was the last time anyone heard from Satoshi Nakamoto. In their final message, they stated:

“I wish you would stop talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure. The press just turns that into a pirate currency angle. Maybe instead make it about the open-source project and give more credit to contributors. It helps motivate them.”

Judging by this message, Satoshi stepped back to give the Bitcoin project more legitimacy and build trust rather than allowing its purpose to be diluted by being led by a faceless, mysterious character.

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Finding Satoshi Nagamoto - Who Could They Be?

Ok, so we know a few facts about the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto that could narrow down where they have lived and where they’re originally from or educated.

Using time stamps for early Satoshi posts, it’s thought that Satoshi lived in the UK or on the west or east coast of the US. That’s still a vast area to cover, and there’s no concrete evidence of this, but it does narrow the search.

Another piece of evidence in the pursuit of finding Satoshi is their use of British and Commonwealth spellings in their post. An example of this would be adding a U into color/colour.

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Craig Wright

The first person to publicly claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto was Australian computer scientist Craig Wright. Actually, many people have claimed to be, but he was the first to be taken seriously.

Although two magazines published articles speculating he was Satoshi, this theory has been widely unaccepted. However, he still maintains his stance on being Satoshi. He has even copyrighted the Bitcoin whitepaper and early code in the US.

Unfortunately for Craig Wright, this doesn’t act as proof he is Satoshi, as anyone can attempt to copyright anything, especially if there’s nobody to contest the filing.

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Hal Finney

Hal Finney was one of the earliest and most obvious suspects for being Satoshi Nakamoto. The cryptographer was the first person ever to receive a Bitcoin, and it was directly from Satoshi. Quickly, people began questioning if this was Satoshi sending Bitcoin to themselves.

Additionally, as another first, Hal was the first person to download and run Bitcoin’s mining software. However, he claimed it made his computer run hot, so he turned it off.

Truly, we’ll probably never know if Finney is Satoshi. In 2014, at the age of 58, he passed away. Until the date of his passing, he maintained that he was not Satoshi Nakamoto.

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Dorian Nakamoto

In 2014, it was claimed that Japanese-American physicist Dorian Nakamoto was, in fact, Satoshi. However, he was quick to deny the rumors and articles published about him.

The magazine that published the article made a grave error of judgment by including an image of Mr. Nakamoto’s home. This led the Bitcoin community to start a fundraising campaign to support him and his family. One of the great benefits of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is the anonymity it provides. When the media violated Dorian’s privacy, this didn’t go down well with Bitcoiners.

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In Summary

So, who is Satoshi Nakamoto? Honestly, we haven’t don’t know. However, there are multiple plausible theories, and many have been debunked. Overall, whether we ever discover their real identity or not, we as a community and society have much to thank them for.

Here’s to you Satoshi, whoever you are and wherever you are.