Good article - always fun to speculate who Satoshi was. I’ve been down a similar rabbit hole from a tech perspective but nowadays just read what others think. My guess would be someone in the orbit of Hal, Nick and Adam, or someone monitoring them closely. I wouldn’t want to say a name because those poor guys get too much hassle if anyone suspects them. That said, idiots like Craig Wright who fraudulently claim to be Satoshi deserve all the shit they get!
If you have a couple of spare hours (eg fairly mindless TV on in the background while doing things like reading your blog comments) then a bit of entertainment on this theme is the HBO Documentary ‘Money Electric‘ which is on Sky in the UK.
Meanwhile, on Christmas Day we had a harmlessly entertaining family film on - Peter Rabbit 2 - and it featured the character S Nakamoto, from NAKAMOTO Farms, selling dried fruit at the town market stall … so maybe the real identity goes back over a century to Beatrix Potter. Who knew?
I re-listened to Dominic’s Bitcoin book on Audible over Christmas while in the States and, as always, kicked myself for not buying £10k’s worth back in 2015 when I first listened. The narration is engaging and amusing, which softens the regret a little. I reckon Satoshi was an avatar for a three-man committee: Finney, Back, and Szabo. But ultimately, speculating on Satoshi’s identity feels a bit like wondering who the Mona Lisa really was.
Dominic, have you been down the CIA/NSA/GCHQ rabbithole with Bitcoin? I know this is Raoul Pal's working hypothesis, re. that it came out of the intelligence agencies and that Satoshi was actually several different people. I have no strong opinion on this myself, but do wonder if it has ever been explored in any significant detail, insofar as this is even possible...
The first Bitcoin transaction took place on 12 January 2009, just three days after the first open-source Bitcoin client was released online. Bitcoin's creator, known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, transferred 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney, an American software developer.
No one would make the first transaction other than Nakamoto.
But even a pristine savior, if any exist/ed, becomes duplicitous secondhand via the uses his, or hers, gifts (or “gifts”) are put to by the second-handers Rand described.
Who is John Galt? Nobody I’d trust.
Or, Galt me once, shame on me ….
I know what money is. And I know what money substitutes do.
Or, derivatives is as derivatives does.
Trade, if you like. Tiptoe through those tulips manias. But the Big Short Cometh. Always.
Because big appetites, ever & always well short of satiety, are the motor of the world. And that motor is the one true perpetual motion machine ... because there's so much fellow human fuel out there that keeps it running.
Good article - always fun to speculate who Satoshi was. I’ve been down a similar rabbit hole from a tech perspective but nowadays just read what others think. My guess would be someone in the orbit of Hal, Nick and Adam, or someone monitoring them closely. I wouldn’t want to say a name because those poor guys get too much hassle if anyone suspects them. That said, idiots like Craig Wright who fraudulently claim to be Satoshi deserve all the shit they get!
If you have a couple of spare hours (eg fairly mindless TV on in the background while doing things like reading your blog comments) then a bit of entertainment on this theme is the HBO Documentary ‘Money Electric‘ which is on Sky in the UK.
Meanwhile, on Christmas Day we had a harmlessly entertaining family film on - Peter Rabbit 2 - and it featured the character S Nakamoto, from NAKAMOTO Farms, selling dried fruit at the town market stall … so maybe the real identity goes back over a century to Beatrix Potter. Who knew?
Cheers
First half of money electric is quite good. Then it fills up time talking about who Satoshi is. A waste of time.
Wow! what a coincidence ... that's a dicovery
I re-listened to Dominic’s Bitcoin book on Audible over Christmas while in the States and, as always, kicked myself for not buying £10k’s worth back in 2015 when I first listened. The narration is engaging and amusing, which softens the regret a little. I reckon Satoshi was an avatar for a three-man committee: Finney, Back, and Szabo. But ultimately, speculating on Satoshi’s identity feels a bit like wondering who the Mona Lisa really was.
Indeed! Thanks Brian
The other theory is it's the creator of true crypt. Paul Calder Leroux.
That's not one I've looked at ... Maybe if I wrote another book
A great read Dominic, thanks.
Thanks Jeremy
Dominic, have you been down the CIA/NSA/GCHQ rabbithole with Bitcoin? I know this is Raoul Pal's working hypothesis, re. that it came out of the intelligence agencies and that Satoshi was actually several different people. I have no strong opinion on this myself, but do wonder if it has ever been explored in any significant detail, insofar as this is even possible...
No, I think that came after I wrote the book ... so I've been less motivated to go exploring ... but US INtel is a commonly held theory.
No one would make the first transaction other than Nakamoto.
So Hal finney is nakamoto.
The first Bitcoin transaction took place on 12 January 2009, just three days after the first open-source Bitcoin client was released online. Bitcoin's creator, known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, transferred 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney, an American software developer.
No one would make the first transaction other than Nakamoto.
Saviors are suspicious.
But even a pristine savior, if any exist/ed, becomes duplicitous secondhand via the uses his, or hers, gifts (or “gifts”) are put to by the second-handers Rand described.
Who is John Galt? Nobody I’d trust.
Or, Galt me once, shame on me ….
I know what money is. And I know what money substitutes do.
Or, derivatives is as derivatives does.
Trade, if you like. Tiptoe through those tulips manias. But the Big Short Cometh. Always.
Because big appetites, ever & always well short of satiety, are the motor of the world. And that motor is the one true perpetual motion machine ... because there's so much fellow human fuel out there that keeps it running.