In 2009, someone (or potentially a group of people) going by the name "Satoshi Nakamoto" unleashed the groundbreaking cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin. But to this day, no one knows the true identity of Bitcoin's creator or creators.
Lack of information hasn't stopped people from speculating. Was the creator of the most well-known cryptocurrency a single person with the legal name "Satoshi Nakamoto"? If so, that would lead people to believe that the crypto pioneer was a Japanese man, since "Satoshi" is a masculine Japanese given name, and Nakamoto is a surname from that country.
But "Satoshi Nakamoto" might also be a pseudonym for an individual or a team.
Besides the original code behind bitcoin, Satoshi gave the world a paper explaining cryptocurrency called "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," and posted a number of messages to an online forum. He also communicated with early crypto enthusiasts by email. But in 2010, the messages abruptly stopped, and no one has heard from Satoshi since then.
Over the years, sleuths have combed through clues trying to identify Satoshi Nakamoto. Maybe Satoshi is someone already associated with bitcoin, hiding in plain sight? Or maybe it's someone living in obscurity? Maybe they have since passed away? It could even be one of the people who have claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
Here are some of the many theories on the real identity of bitcoin's creator:
In 2014, Newsweek claimed to have found the real Satoshi—a then-64-year-old engineer and model train enthusiast living in a modest home in the Los Angeles suburbs.1
His birth name was actually Satoshi Nakamoto. Politically, he was libertarian, according to family—a philosophy popular in the crypto community. His family described him as both brilliant and secretive, two qualities that could sensibly be associated with the mysterious founder of a new kind of currency.
After the publication of the article, Nakamoto denied having anything to do with bitcoin. Also, he appeared to be living humbly, and claimed financial hardship in his denial. The person who started bitcoin, on the other hand, is believed to own more than 1 million bitcoins, which they could presumably sell at any time for billions of dollars.2
The late Internet pioneer was known as an early bitcoin contributor. Coincidentally (or perhaps not?) Finney lived near Dorian Nakamoto in Temple City, California.3
As one of the developers of PGP, and a "cypherpunk," Finney wrote that his interest in cryptography was motivated by his appreciation for privacy. Finney was an early defender of bitcoin and received the very first bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto.4
Interestingly, Finney's retirement from PGP Corp. happened the same year that Satoshi Nakamoto was last heard from—2011.5 Finney subsequently lost more and more of his physical abilities due to ALS and died in 2014. That could explain Nakamoto's silence all these years.
Like others, Finney denied being Satoshi Nakamoto. There's also this little shred of evidence: In 2010, a collaborator said that Nakamoto didn't have a Macintosh computer; the same year, Finney tweeted about a problem with his own Mac.6
This software developer says he collaborated with Satoshi Nakamoto on rewriting bitcoin's code after its release and was chosen by Satoshi as his successor. But what if Andresen actually created the project on his own, and made up the Satoshi identity?
Andresen is more closely linked with bitcoin than any other known developer. And at least one investigator has claimed to prove Andresen is Satoshi by analyzing their writing styles.8
Andresen says he isn't Satoshi. And, like other candidates, he hasn't spent any of Satoshi's bitcoins.
Some have speculated that the billionaire Tesla founder could secretly be behind bitcoin.
Musk is known as an unconventional thinker and a cryptocurrency enthusiast. Supporters of this theory point out that Musk has the know-how to have written the original code, and have cited similarities in his writing style with texts attributed to Nakamoto.9
Musk has denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.10 Since Musk has never seemed to shy away from the spotlight, something tells us that if he had created bitcoin, he would be taking credit for it.
Does it matter who really created bitcoin?
A lot of people would like to meet the creator and ask them questions. Some of those who became millionaires through bitcoin might want to thank them.
But there's a more practical reason it matters: the creator of Bitcoin mined more than 1 million bitcoins, which are still sitting untouched. If Satoshi Nakamoto is able to spend those bitcoins—as in, they or their heirs still have the address needed to move them—it's possible that a huge amount of bitcoin could one day flood the market, possibly destabilizing the already volatile price of the currency. If Satoshi is still out there, they could let the world know when or if they plan to move that hefty chunk of cryptocurrency.
The more years that pass without a peep, however, the more likely it seems that we will never know who Satoshi Nakamoto is or was. And it appears that whoever they are, that's just how Satoshi wants it.