There is no denying that most of the mysteries surrounding bitcoin fall back to the mysterious identity of its original creator. Also, the fact that there are no unequivocal proofs to dismiss claims supported by the notion further fuel the plausibility of some of these theories. Regardless of the case, some of these theories serve a comical relief in these tough crypto times.
But before we look at the theories, here is how it really began.
18th August 2008, a mysterious person registers the bitcoin.org domain on the internet. A month later, a link to a white paper appears with Satoshi Nakamoto as the author. The title of the white paper is bitcoin: a p2p electronic cash system.
January 2009, an open source code is released.
2010, the lowly Nakamoto fades away from the industry and it marks the beginning of conspiracy theories.
This piece takes a look at some of the wildest claims about bitcoin. Ignorance has played a huge part in the believability of these theories. Also, the fact that there is little evidence to disapprove them gives the theories some kind of benefit of the doubt.
Bitcoin Is A US Government Project
This is one of the most prominent theories out there. Apparently, the US intelligence services created bitcoin to enable funding of top secret and untraceable international missions.
This theory has even found itself on the mouths of prominent figures in the bitcoin space who have further propagated the notion. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder said he wouldn’t be surprised if he found out that NSA was involved in bitcoin’s creation. However last year, he abandoned his earlier stance in a tweet that asserted that he had ‘changed a lot since then’.
Another personality who seems to share Buterin’s earlier thoughts is Roberto Escobar. Brother to Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug kingpin. He claims bitcoin is CIA’s creation. He has even written a book about it and launched his own crypto.
A Chinese Creation
The US is not the only suspect government. The Chinese have also been dragged into the conspiracy.
One theory claims that bitcoin was created by Chinese engineers who were funded by their communist parties. The Japanese name was just a decoy. The objective of this creation is to support the Chinese manufacture of computer chips by promoting mining and also reduce Chinese’ dependence on the dollar.
Bitcoin Is An AI
Another popular theory claims bitcoin is a rogue Artificial Intelligence using the crypto to take over the world. The conspiracy appeared on YouTube August 2018.
It alleges that the currency uses the appeal of money to trick people into expanding its processing power and network; and people are buying the theory.
The perfect bitcoin code has been questioned. UFO Today says the code could not have been developed even by a team of skilled developers, leave alone one skilled developer.
Bitcoin Is The Devil
Last but not least is the hilarious theory that bitcoin is the creation of the devil himself. Here’s the thought behind it.
Since money is the root of all evil, the devil wanted to make more profits. Bitcoin was the perfect plan. And since he knew the world wouldn’t accept anything from the depths of hell, he manifested into a human and called himself Satoshi Nakamoto.
Yeah, that’s how wild the theories are. You have to credit the level of people’s imagination.