Who created Bitcoin? The story behind Satoshi Nakamoto

In 2021, Budapest's Graphisoft Park held a rather strange ceremony to unveil a reflective bust of a nondescript hooded coder. Instead of honoring a well-photographed celebrity or statesman, this event memorialized the influence and mystery of Bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.

As the entity behind the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency, the individual or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto single-handedly inaugurated the blockchain revolution. But even with the legend’s high profile in Web3’s history, there’s endless speculation over who Satoshi Nakamoto is.

The deliberate anonymity of Bitcoin’s founder isn’t just a spicy media sensation – it adds credibility to Bitcoin’s core values like anonymity and decentralization. We may never know who created Bitcoin, but learning more about the lore surrounding this computer scientist can help us understand why Bitcoin has had such a massive impact.

Who created Bitcoin? The legend of Satoshi Nakamoto

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym for the individual or group who introduced the first successful blockchain-based cryptocurrency system, called the Bitcoin Network. The concept for this new form of virtual currency emerged in a 2008 white paper, titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” In it, Nakamoto outlined the structure of a decentralized, cryptographically secure form of digital money for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions.

It only took Nakamoto a few months to put these theories into practice with the launch of Bitcoin’s first block in January 2009. Known as the "Genesis block," this milestone included a notable message: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." This reference to the New York Times front page (and a critique of central banks) on the day Bitcoin launched gave the protocol a mission statement and positioned Bitcoin (BTC) as an alternative to fiat currencies amid the 2008 financial crisis.

During Bitcoin's early days, Nakamoto worked to secure the network and mined a lot of BTC alongside a select group of early adopters. Some estimates suggest that Satoshi Nakamoto controls roughly 1 million Bitcoin spread across early “Satoshi-era” wallets, making them the largest Bitcoin whale on earth.

The first Bitcoin transaction went between Nakamoto and cryptographer Hal Finney. Some speculate Nakamoto used Finney as a cover, but whoever Nakamoto truly is, they haven’t been involved with Bitcoin since 2011.

Key facts about Satoshi Nakamoto

There isn’t much to go on when trying to piece together Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity, but anyone interested in tracking this techie can use a few confirmed facts to start their search:

• Publishing the white paper: There’s no question that Satoshi Nakamoto wrote the white paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” since they took credit for authoring this publication. Originally, this document appeared on The Cryptography Mailing List hosted on metzdowd.com for cryptography experts, but it eventually filtered into the mainstream as Bitcoin became more popular.
• Starting the Genesis block: Nakamoto formally launched Bitcoin in 2009 and encoded the headline on bank bailouts into the Genesis block. Including a piece from The New York Times in Bitcoin’s code like this (and Bitcoin’s decentralized mission overall) strongly suggests that Nakamoto wasn’t a fan of centralized institutions.
• Early communications: Nakamoto was very hands-on with the cryptography community in the early days of Bitcoin via email and on forums like BitcoinTalk. These texts reveal Nakamoto held an intimate knowledge of cryptography and a passion for helping Bitcoin succeed by encouraging collaboration and patching bugs themselves.
• Disappearance in 2011: According to Mike Hearn, Bitcoin core developer, the last online message from Satoshi Nakamoto appeared in 2011, in which this pseudonymous founder passed on responsibilities to early Bitcoin adopter Gavin Andresen. As Nakamoto said, “I've moved on to other things and [Bitcoin] is in good hands with Gavin and everyone.”

Why is Satoshi Nakamoto's identity anonymous?

Almost all the details surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto are speculative, and it’s likely that level of anonymity was intentional. Although nobody knows exactly why Satoshi hid in the shadows, there are a few theories behind this decision:

• Legal protection: Developing a virtual currency using a technology that directly challenges governments, central banks, and major financial institutions could have serious legal repercussions. Nakamoto may have feared retaliation from powerful entities that could have shut the project down or even imprisoned them.
• Commitment to privacy: Section 10 of the Bitcoin white paper is dedicated to privacy, so it’s clear Nakamoto had this issue in mind when creating this digital asset. Nakamoto may have simply valued their personal privacy and chose to live out that ideal by keeping their identity concealed.
• Decentralization: By staying anonymous, Nakamoto ensured Bitcoin wasn’t associated with a targetable individual or entity. The leaderless nature of Bitcoin reinforces the project’s goals as a genuinely decentralized and community-driven project independent from centralized manipulation of any kind.

Is Satoshi Nakamoto still active?

Satoshi Nakamoto has kept their word and hasn’t posted anything online since saying goodbye to the crypto community in 2011. Occasionally, there’s news of BTC moving between old Satoshi-era wallets that cause speculation on Nakamoto’s latest activity, but there’s not any way to confirm if Satoshi Nakamoto is making any of these transfers.

The Satoshi shortlist: Possible identities of Satoshi Nakamoto

Most people suspected of being Satoshi Nakamoto have denied it, while those who claimed to be Nakamoto don’t have credible proof. However, a few names consistently come up as candidates.

Hal Finney

As previously mentioned, Finney – the recipient of the first BTC transaction – regularly spoke to Nakamoto in Bitcoin’s earliest days. Some speculate that Finney may have been Bitcoin’s actual creator, but he acknowledged only his involvement with the network before his death in 2014.

​Gavin Andresen

Considering his pivotal role in Bitcoin’s early development, it’s not impossible Andresen is Satoshi Nakamoto. After all, Andresen was the developer who took the official reins on Bitcoin’s codebase after Nakamoto left, which some might argue was an inside job to create the illusion of a leaderless cryptocurrency. However, this theory is less likely considering Andresen's support for the contentious hard fork that led to the creation of a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Peter Todd

Cryptographer Peter Todd entered the spotlight as a potential Bitcoin creator following the 2024 HBO documentary "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery." Circumstantial evidence, including similarities in writing style and technical expertise, plus a strange, highly technical response to a 2010 BitcoinTalk post by Nakamoto, are the main drivers behind the theory.

Despite these claims, Todd – who undeniably played a role in Bitcoin’s early development – has denied being Nakamoto.

Nick Szabo

Computer scientist Nick Szabo, creator of the proposed project Bit Gold, is another prominent figure in the cryptography world often linked to Bitcoin. Aside from the similar name and the shared concept of “digital gold,” Bit Gold had many features that would later appear in Bitcoin, such as a timestamped ledger with no centralized authority. Despite the overlaps in goals and theories behind these digital assets, Szabo consistently denies that he’s Nakamoto.

Adam Back

The British cryptographer Adam Back also has a direct tie to Bitcoin’s history as the inventor of the hashcash system, an early proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism, in the 1990s. Hashcash’s algorithmic design was created to deal with spam, but the mechanism inspired Bitcoin’s architecture.

Yet again, Back denies being Nakamoto.

Dorian Nakamoto

The obvious reason Dorian Nakamoto became a suspect was his name (plus his occupation as an engineer). However, Dorian Nakamoto has repeatedly told media outlets that he has no relation to Bitcoin’s founder.

Craig Wright

Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright is the one name on this list that loudly proclaims he’s Satoshi Nakamoto. The only problem is that he’s yet to present credible evidence to support his allegations, and previous trials suggest some of the “details” Wright shares were forged.

How many Bitcoins are left?

The Bitcoin blockchain will only ever have 21 million BTC, and new coins enter circulation roughly every 10 minutes in a process called mining. Since the Bitcoin blockchain began, nodes (aka miners) on the network compete to solve a complex problem, which grants them a chance to post transactions and win a block reward paid in BTC. Besides serving as a financial incentive to node operators, these block rewards are how new Bitcoin enters circulation. Their issuance gets cut in half every four years until total circulation hits 21 million coins.

At the time of writing, there are just over 20 million Bitcoin in circulation, but there’s a lot of speculation over just how many of these Bitcoins are accessible. Some firms estimate that anywhere from 2.2 million to 4 million BTC are irrecoverably lost due to events like accidental transfers or unexpected deaths.

What price did Bitcoin start at?

Initially, Bitcoin didn’t have monetary value because it was such a niche currency. However, when two BitcoinTalk users swapped coins for the first time in late 2009, New Liberty Standard Exchange recorded the transaction price at $0.00099 USD per BTC.

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Many in the crypto community have resigned to the fact that they’ll never know who Satoshi Nakamoto is, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nakamoto’s anonymity adds allure to Bitcoin, and their illusory identity reinforces the community’s ideals of decentralization, censorship resistance, and independence. If the world knew who Satoshi Nakamoto was, Bitcoin may not have become the game-changing currency it now is.

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Disclaimer: This post is informational only and is not intended as tax advice. For tax advice, please consult a tax professional.