For years, the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, managed to avoid detection.
Now, a 10,000-word investigation by The New York Times may have solved the mystery, pointing to British computer scientist Dr. Adam Backa as Nakamoto.
Both newcomers to the crypto world and longtime industry veterans have speculated about the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto for over a decade. Countless articles, documentaries, and even a few lawsuits – but nothing concrete to date.
Some reasons for concern
Beyond mere curiosity, crypto enthusiasts and skeptics alike have reason to be concerned.
Nakamoto has an almost mythical status as a key figure in the world of digital assets. His invention launched the $2.4 trillion crypto market. The pseudonymous creator is also known to control around 1.1 million bitcoins, which is approximately 44% more than the world’s largest corporate bitcoin holder, Strategy (MSTR).
Even outside of the Nakamoto connection, Back, who turns 56 in July, has made invaluable contributions to the development of cryptocurrencies.
In 1997, Back invented a spam filter known as Hashcash. Its core algorithm, known as proof of work, shaped cryptocurrency research for the next decade. It was this concept that became the foundation that enabled bitcoin to function after years of failed attempts to create a digital currency, SEEBiz reports.
How did the investigation go?
Satoshi even emailed Back months before the bitcoin white paper was published to check that he was citing his work correctly. The connections between the two cryptographers go much deeper, according to the report.
The main conclusion of The New York Times investigation is that Satoshi’s writing style most closely matched Back’s. Finnish developer Martti Malmi, who worked with Satoshi in the early days of bitcoin, released hundreds of exchanged emails as part of the court case.
Investigative journalist John Carreyrou, with the help of artificial intelligence expert Dylan Freedman, collected all correspondence from three key Internet mailing lists spanning decades. They compared the material with all known Satoshi texts. Back proved to be the closest match in all three analyses.
Back denies
Notable similarities that Satoshi and Back shared included writing two spaces between sentences, using British spelling, and misusing hyphens in the same manner. Carreyrou claims Back sent emails to himself to create a fake backstory.
Back denied The New York Times’ findings, both in an article and on the X social network, where he wrote:
“I’m not Satoshi, but I focused early on the positive social implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic money, hence my active interest in applied research in e-cash, privacy technology on the cypherpunk mailing list, which led to Hashcash and other ideas.”
However, according to the investigation, the similarities between Satoshi and Back are numerous.
According to the NYT, what initially sparked the investigation was Carreyrou’s viewing of an HBO documentary that attempted to unravel the mystery of Satoshi. Back’s behavior during the interview in that documentary further aroused his suspicion.
“Having met many liars and developed a sort of intuition for their stories, Mr. Back’s behavior—his suspicious eyes, awkward laugh, and jerky movements of his left hand—seemed suspicious. When the credits rolled, I replayed the footage several times,” Carreyrou wrote.
Most recently – and crucial to the start of the investigation – Back became CEO of BSTR, a treasury firm that owns more than 30,000 bitcoins. It is planned to go public through a reverse merger with a blank check company (CEPO), managed by Cantor Fitzgerald.
The timing of that merger has been pushed back several times in recent months and is now expected before the end of the second quarter.
However, one implication is that Back, as CEO of a publicly traded company, is required to disclose all relevant information to investors under US securities law. Carreyrou admits he was unaware of this fact when he interviewed Back.
“A secret stockpile of 1.1 million coins, which could crash the bitcoin market if suddenly sold, would likely be considered material information,” the article said.
