Satoshi Nakamoto

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonymous entity that designed and created the original Bitcoin software, currently known as Bitcoin-Qt. Nakamoto is often claimed to be a veil for a group of people.

His involvement in the original Bitcoin software does not appear to extend past mid-2010.

Identity

There are no records of Nakamoto's identity or identities prior to the creation of Bitcoin. On his P2P foundation profile, Nakamoto claimed to be an individual male at the age of 37 and of Japanese origin, which was met with great skepticism due to his use of English and his Bitcoin software not being documented nor labeled in Japanese.

British formatting in his written work implies Nakamoto is of British origin.

The first release of his original Bitcoin software is speculated to be of a collabrative effort, leading some to claim that Satoshi Nakamoto was a collective pseudonym for a group of people.

Work

In 2008, Nakamoto published a 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.

Nakamoto continued to contribute to his Bitcoin software release with other developers until contact with his team and the community gradually began to fade in mid-2010. He gave all original Bitcoin properties and alert key functions of his software to Gavin Andresen near this time.

Motives

Nakamoto's work appears to be politically motivated, as quoted:

"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

"[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

In the Bitcoin network's transaction database, the original entry has a note by Nakamoto that reads as:

"The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"

Some claim this quote implies Nakamoto had great concern or contempt for the current central banking system.

Influence

The smallest unit of the Bitcoin currency (1/100,000,000) has been named "satoshi" in collective homage to his founding of Bitcoin.

References

• Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto
• The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin
• The New Yorker’s Joshua Davis Attempts to Identify Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto
• The Crypto-Currency: Bitcoin and its mysterious inventor
• The Bitcoin Crypto-Currency Mystery Reopened
• Satoshi's posts to Cryptography mailing list