The true identity of the original creator of bitcoin is one of the greatest technology mysteries in modern times. The issue has been a headache for the enthusiasts who want to know who is behind the ingenious bitcoin blueprint. But the man behind the masterplan has always been elusive.
October 31st 2008, someone running under the pseudonym satoshi Nakamoto published bitcoin’s whitepaper on a cryptography mailing list. And that is the closest we’ve been to his fingerprints.
10 years later, many fake satoshis have risen. And yet we are still far from the real Nakamoto than we were at the beginning.
Among the fake satoshis that have emerged, some have been bold enough to proclaim themselves as Nakamoto. James Bilal Khadid can and Steven right claims to the identity have failed to deliver definitive proof for the same.
With no proof, what’s left is a wave of speculation on what Nakamoto’s qualities would be like and consequently who near matches these characteristics. Consequently, several pivotal figures have arose.
Here are the top suspects.
Harold Thomas Finney
Born on May 4th, Finney was a developer of the PGP Corporation where he led the development of a few console games in his career.
Finney is also among the first ever bitcoin contributors. He even made a transaction with Nakamoto himself, or should I say he made a transaction with himself?
Well, for a decade, Finney lived in the same town as Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto. And this did add speculation that he might be the creator.
March 2013, Harold commented on bitcoin forum talk saying that he was paralyzed but continued to code. Until his death, Finney was working on bcflick, an experimental software leveraging trusted computing to boost bitcoin wallets.
The last 12 months of his life were particularly interesting, his family received myriads of anonymous calls demanding an extortion fee of 1000 BTC. Finney passed away at 58 on august 28 2014. As for the claims that he was Nakamoto, he denied.
Nick Szabo
A cryptographer, legal scholar and computer scientist. Nick Szabo is also known for his research into digital currency and digital contracts.
In fact, the phrase and concept of smart contracts was developed by this guy. Needless to say how smart contracts plays a vital role in blockchain and cryptocurrency systems.
Szabo also created a mechanism for Bit Gold, a decentralized digital currency. Although it was never implemented, many believe that it served a direct predecessor of the bitcoin network architecture.
Szabo has repeatedly denied claims of being Nakamoto despite speculations being widespread. There was even a research on him by Dominic Frisby, which provided circumstantial evidence but failed to proof that he was indeed satoshi.
David Kleiman
A computer forensics expert, a writer and co-writer of several books. David Kleiman is also a frequent speaker at security related events and conferences.
In December 2015, reports by Gizmodo claimed that Kleiman could have been involved in bitcoin’s creation. This was supported by documents sent by Craig Wright, another one who claims to be Nakamoto.
Kleiman died on April 2013.
In 2018, his brother Ira who is the executor of his state started a lawsuit against wright for the rights of anything around 550,000 to 1100000 BTC.
Ira claims that wright defrauded the bitcoin estate and intellectual property rights claiming Kleiman worked along wright to launch the cryptocurrency.
And there you have, the three standout satoshi Nakamoto candidates. Truth is, the ever elusive figure may never be found.