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| {{infobox person|name=Satoshi Nakamoto
| | :''For the unit, see [[satoshi (unit)]].'' |
| |names=Satoshi Nakamoto
| | '''Satoshi Nakamoto''' is the founder of [[Bitcoin]] and initial creator of the [[Original Bitcoin client]]. He has said in a P2P foundation profile<ref name="p2p_f_profile">[http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/profile/SatoshiNakamoto Satoshi Nakamoto profile on P2P Foundation]</ref> that he is from Japan. Beyond that, not much else is known about him and his identity. He has been working on the Bitcoin project since 2007.<ref>[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=13.msg46#msg46 Re: Questions about Bitcoin]</ref> |
| |born=allegedly {{birth date and age|1975|4|5}}
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| |disappeared=June 2011
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| |active=2008-2011
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| |knownfor=Creating [[Bitcoin]]
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| |bitcointalk=[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3 satoshi]
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| |bottom={{subbox miner
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| |firsthash=January 3, 2009
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| |firstblock=January 9, 2009
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| |firstblockn=1
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| |btc=est. 985,000 BTC
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| |usd=210 million
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| |year=2015
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| }}}}
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| :''"Satoshi" redirects here. For other uses, see [[Satoshi (disambiguation)]].'' | |
| '''Satoshi Nakamoto''' is the pseudonymous person or group of people who designed and created the original [[Bitcoin]] software, [[Bitcoin Core]] (formerly Bitcoin-Qt). Nakamoto published a [[Bitcoin whitepaper|whitepaper]] describing Bitcoin on [[The Cryptography Mailing List]] in 2008,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=cryptography@metzdowd.com&q=from:%22Satoshi+Nakamoto%22 |title=Satoshi's posts to Cryptography mailing list |publisher=Mail-archive.com |date= |accessdate=2013-12-14}}</ref> and released a working implementation in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|last=Davis|first=Joshua|title=The Crypto-Currency: Bitcoin and its mysterious inventor.|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_davis|work=The New Yorker}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Penenberg|first=Adam|title=The Bitcoin Crypto-Currency Mystery Reopened|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/1785445/bitcoin-crypto-currency-mystery-reopened|publisher=Fast Company|quote=A New Yorker writer implies he found Bitcoin's mysterious creator. We think he got the wrong man, and offer far more compelling evidence that points to someone else entirely.}}</ref> | |
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| Nakamoto's involvement in [[Bitcoin Core]] development does not appear to extend past mid-2010. Prior to his disappearance in 2011, he named [[Gavin Andresen]] the [[Core maintainer]] and gave him the [[alert key]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Bosker|first=Bianca|title=Gavin Andresen, Bitcoin Architect: Meet The Man Bringing You Bitcoin (And Getting Paid In It) |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/gavin-andresen-bitcoin_n_3093316.html|publisher=HuffPostTech}}</ref>
| | His involvement in the Bitcoin project had tapered and by late 2010 it has ended. The most recent messages reportedly indicate that Satoshi is "gone for good"<ref>[http://bitcoinstats.com/irc/bitcoin-dev/logs/2011/04/26#l1303826036.0 Transcript of #bitcoin-dev for 2011/04/26]</ref>. |
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| The [[block chain]] demonstrates that Nakamoto's known wallets contain roughly one million bitcoins. As of June 2015, this was the equivalent of $250 million; in November 2013, this could be valued at over $1 billion.<ref>{{cite web|last=Liu |first=Alec |url=http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/bitcoin-mints-its-first-billionaire-satoshi-nakamoto |title=Bitcoin Mints Its First Billionaire: Its Inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto | Motherboard |publisher=Motherboard.vice.com |date= |accessdate=2013-12-14}}</ref><ref>https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-surges-250-magnificent-price-action/</ref> Nakamoto's true identity remains unknown, and has been the subject of speculation. It is not known whether the name "Satoshi Nakamoto" is real or a [[pseudonym]], or whether the name represents one person or a group of people.
| | ==Possible Motives== |
| | He left some clues about why he is doing this project with the inclusion of the following text in the [[Genesis block]], "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks". |
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| ==Identity==
| | Some interesting quotes: |
| | <blockquote><p>Yes, [we will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography,] but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of |
| | freedom for several years.</p> |
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| There are no records of Nakamoto's identity or identities prior to the creation of [[Bitcoin]]. On his [http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/profile/SatoshiNakamoto P2P foundation profile], Nakamoto claimed to be an individual male at the age of 37 and living in Japan, which was met with great skepticism due to his use of English and his Bitcoin [[software]] not being documented nor labeled in Japanese.
| | <p>Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled |
| | networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be |
| | holding their own.<ref>[http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg09971.html Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:30:36 -0800]</ref></p></blockquote> |
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| British formatting in his written work implies Nakamoto is of British origin. However, he also sometimes used American spelling, which may indicate that he was intentionally trying (but failed) to mask his writing style, or that he is more than one person.
| | <blockquote>It's very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it |
| | properly. I'm better with code than with words though.<ref>[http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg10001.html Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:29:22]</ref></blockquote> |
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| Because the first release of Satoshi's original [[Bitcoin]] software was amazingly complete and featureful, the software is often speculated to be the result of a collaborative effort, leading some to claim that Satoshi Nakamoto himself was a collective pseudonym for a group of people. However, according to Bitcoin core developer Gregory Maxwell, "the [version 0.1] source code is strongly idiomatic of code written primarily by a single mind." <ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3di6zc/nick_szabos_hidden_work/ct5suj2 Reddit comment by Greg Maxwell aka nullc]</ref>
| | ==Possible identity== |
| | His identity and nationality are unknown. |
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| Investigations into the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto have been attempted by ''The New Yorker'', ''Fast Company'' and ''Newsweek''.
| | He is entirely unknown outside of Bitcoin as far as anyone can tell, and his (never used) PGP key was created just months prior to the date of the genesis block. He seems to be very familiar with the cryptography mailing list, but there are no non-Bitcoin posts from him on it. He has used an email address from an anonymous mail hosting service (vistomail) as well as one from a free webmail account (gmx.com) and sends mail when connected via Tor. Some have speculated that his entire identity was created in advance in order to protect himself or the network. Perhaps he chose the name Satoshi because it can mean "wisdom" or "reason" and Nakamoto can mean "Central source". |
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| ''The New Yorker'' arrived at Michael Clear, a young graduate student in cryptography at Trinity College in Dublin, who was named the top computer-science undergraduate at Trinity in 2008. The next year, he was hired by Allied Irish Banks to improve its currency-trading software, and he co-authored an academic paper on peer-to-peer technology.<ref>[http://betabeat.com/2011/10/did-the-new-yorkers-joshua-davis-nail-the-identity-of-bitcoin-creator-satoshi-nakamoto/ The New Yorker’s Joshua Davis Attempts to Identify Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto]</ref>
| | Ultimately the design of Bitcoin and its use of cryptographic proof and fully open implementation is one that makes its creator, in a sense, irrelevant and only of interest for historical reasons. |
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| ''Fast Company'''s investigation brought up circumstantial evidence that indicated a link between an encryption patent application filed by Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry on 15 August 2008, and the bitcoin.org domain name which was registered 72 hours later. The [http://www.google.com/patents/US20100042841 patent application] contained networking and encryption technologies similar to Bitcoin's. After textual analysis, the phrase "...computationally impractical to reverse" was found in both the patent application and bitcoin's whitepaper.<ref name="whitepaper">{{cite web |last= Nakamoto |first= Satoshi |title= Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System |url= http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf |date= 24 May 2009}}</ref> All three inventors explicitly denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.<ref>{{cite web|last= Penenberg |first= Adam |title= The Bitcoin Crypto-Currency Mystery Reopened |url= http://www.fastcompany.com/1785445/bitcoin-crypto-currency-mystery-reopened |publisher= FastCompany |accessdate= 16 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last= Greenfield |first= Rebecca |title= The Race to Unmask Bitcoin's Inventor(s) |url= http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/10/race-unmask-bitcoins-inventors/43535/ |publisher= The Atlantic |date=11 October 2011|accessdate= 16 February 2013}}</ref>
| | ==External links== |
| | | * [http://bitcointalk.org/Satoshi_Nakamoto.asc Satoshi's PGP public key] |
| ''Newsweek'' identified Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, an engineer from Temple City, California. In March 2014 he wrote to Newsweek, "I did not create, invent or otherwise work on Bitcoin. I unconditionally deny the Newsweek report."<ref>{{cite web|last= Goodman |first= Leah |middle=McGrath |title= The Face Behind Bitcoin |url= http://www.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/face-behind-bitcoin-247957.html |publisher= Newsweek |date=6 March 2014|accessdate= 15 May 2015}}</ref> Later [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Antonopoulos Andreas Antonopoulos] organized a fundraiser for Mr. Nakamoto, who thanked the community by video message.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7YmJZ-qVW8 Dorian Nakamoto - Thank you Bitcoin Community]</ref>
| | * [http://www.bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System] Paper |
| | | * <s>[http://sourceforge.net/users/s_nakamoto SourceForge page]</s> <i>this link is invalid as of [https://timestamps.glencooper.com/ 20190522T0153Z] :-(</i> |
| ==Work==
| | * [http://nakamotoinstitute.org Satoshi Nakamoto Institute] |
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| Nakamoto has claimed that he has been working on [[Bitcoin]] since 2007. In 2008, he published a [[Bitcoin_white_paper|paper]] on The Cryptography Mailing List at metzdowd.com describing the Bitcoin [[digital currency]]. In 2009, he released the first Bitcoin software that launched the network and the first units of the Bitcoin currency.
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| Version 0.1 was for Windows only and had no command-line interface. It was compiled using Microsoft Visual Studio. The code was elegant in some ways and inelegant in others. The code does not appear to have been written by either a total amateur or a professional programmer; some people speculate based on this that Satoshi was an academic with a lot of theoretical knowledge but not much programming experience. Version 0.1 was remarkably complete. If Satoshi truly only worked on it alone for two years, he must have spent a massive amount of time on the project.
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| Nakamoto was active in making modifications to the Bitcoin software and posting technical information on the [[Bitcoin Forum]] until his contact with other Bitcoin developers and the community gradually began to fade in mid-2010. Until a few months before he left, almost all modifications to the source code were done by Satoshi -- he accepted contributions relatively rarely. Just before he left, he set up [[User:Gavinandresen|Gavin Andresen]] as his successor by giving him access to the Bitcoin SourceForge project and a copy of the [[Alerts|alert key]].
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| ==Motives==
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| Nakamoto's work appears to be politically motivated, as quoted:
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| "Yes, [we will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography,] but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years. Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own." - Satoshi Nakamoto
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| "[Bitcoin is] very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it properly. I'm better with code than with words though." - Satoshi Nakamoto
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| In the Bitcoin network's transaction database, the original entry has a note by Nakamoto that reads as:
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| "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"
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| Some claim this quote implies Nakamoto had great concern or contempt for the current [[central banking]] system.
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| ==Influence==
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| The smallest unit of the [[Bitcoin]] currency (1/100,000,000) has been named "[[satoshi (unit)|satoshi]]" in collective homage to his founding of [[Bitcoin]].
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| ==References== | | ==References== |
| <references/> | | <references/> |
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| ==External Links==
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| *[http://nakamotoinstitute.org/ Satoshi Nakamoto Institute], a collection of his and related papers
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| ** cf. [http://www.bookofsatoshi.com/ <i>The Book of Satoshi</i>]
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| *[http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/11/mf_bitcoin/ The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin]
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| *[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_davis The Crypto-Currency: Bitcoin and its mysterious inventor]
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| *[http://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=cryptography@metzdowd.com&q=from:%22Satoshi+Nakamoto%22 Satoshi's posts to Cryptography mailing list]
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| *[[Bitcoin white paper]]
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| {{s-start|Bitcoin [[Core maintainer]]|Position established|2009–2011|[[Gavin Andresen]]}}
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| {{developers}}
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| [[Category:Pseudonyms]]
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| [[de:Satoshi Nakamoto]] | | [[de:Satoshi Nakamoto]] |
| [[es:Satoshi Nakamoto]] | | [[es:Satoshi Nakamoto]] |
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| [[Category:People]] | | [[Category:People]] |
| [[Category:Former block makers]]
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| [[Category:Individuals]]
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| {{wp|Satoshi_Nakamoto}}
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- For the unit, see satoshi (unit).
Satoshi Nakamoto is the founder of Bitcoin and initial creator of the Original Bitcoin client. He has said in a P2P foundation profile[1] that he is from Japan. Beyond that, not much else is known about him and his identity. He has been working on the Bitcoin project since 2007.[2]
His involvement in the Bitcoin project had tapered and by late 2010 it has ended. The most recent messages reportedly indicate that Satoshi is "gone for good"[3].
Possible Motives
He left some clues about why he is doing this project with the inclusion of the following text in the Genesis block, "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks".
Some interesting quotes:
Yes, [we will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography,] but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of
freedom for several years.
Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled
networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be
holding their own.[4]
It's very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it
properly. I'm better with code than with words though.[5]
Possible identity
His identity and nationality are unknown.
He is entirely unknown outside of Bitcoin as far as anyone can tell, and his (never used) PGP key was created just months prior to the date of the genesis block. He seems to be very familiar with the cryptography mailing list, but there are no non-Bitcoin posts from him on it. He has used an email address from an anonymous mail hosting service (vistomail) as well as one from a free webmail account (gmx.com) and sends mail when connected via Tor. Some have speculated that his entire identity was created in advance in order to protect himself or the network. Perhaps he chose the name Satoshi because it can mean "wisdom" or "reason" and Nakamoto can mean "Central source".
Ultimately the design of Bitcoin and its use of cryptographic proof and fully open implementation is one that makes its creator, in a sense, irrelevant and only of interest for historical reasons.
External links
References