Information about the identity of the ‘father’ of Bitcoin is back

In the article above New York Timesfamous journalist John Carreyrou, who exposed the scandal about Elizabeth Holmes’ startup Theranos, said he had a time talking with British computer scientist Adam Back at a park in Riga (Latvia).

When Carreyrou mentioned his name among those predicted to be the “father” of Bitcoin, Back became nervous, denied being Satoshi and asked that this conversation be kept private. According to Carreyrou, Adam Back’s actions at that time showed “lying eyes, forced laughter, jerky movements of his left hand” that made him suspicious.

He then spent some time researching and found some clues. First of all, the problem concerns the first block of Bitcoin transactions. In the block, Satoshi embedded a text from the article headline “Finance Minister about to implement second bailout package for banks” by The Times January 3, 2009. “It seemed like a sign that Satoshi was British,” Carreyrou wrote.

This journalist also analyzed Satoshi’s emails and Back’s forum and social network posts. He realized the two had similar writing styles, especially the use of special terms.

Besides, Carreyrou also believes that Satoshi is most likely also a member of Cypherpunk, a group founded in the early 1990s that wants to use cryptography, the art of securing communications with code, to free individuals from government surveillance and censorship. Back is also a Cypherpunk.

In addition, Back invented Hashcash – the statistical puzzle solving system that Satoshi used for the Bitcoin mining algorithm – one of the factors that confirms this computer scientist is the father of Bitcoin. Satoshi mentioned Back and Hashcash in the Bitcoin white paper.

Adam Back once published a number of emails in a lawsuit related to Craig Wright – the Australian who once claimed to be the “father” of Bitcoin. In particular, Satoshi contacted Back in August 2008 before the publication of the Bitcoin white paper.

“The email appears to be proof that Back cannot be Satoshi,” Carreyrou wrote. “However, thinking more carefully, I realized another possibility: Back could have sent that series of emails to himself as a way to cover up.”

After the above information, forums and social networks such as Reddit and X “got excited” and controversy broke out. According to Fortunewhat Carreyrou offers is “not a bad guess”. Back has long been an influencer in the cryptocurrency world. Hashcash, a form of digital currency that preceded Bitcoin that he invented, has been applied. Back is also the CEO of Blockstream, an early Bitcoin infrastructure company, and currently accumulates a large amount of Bitcoin. However, Fortune also evaluate the facts as sufficient grounds to confirm.

“I’m not Satoshi, but I’m the first person to focus intensely on the positive impacts of cryptography, online privacy, and cryptocurrencies on society,” Adam Back responded on X on April 8. “So, from 1992 onwards, I was actively involved in applied research on cryptocurrency and security technology on the Cypherpunk forum, leading to the birth of Hashcash and other ideas.”

Previously, a series of names were “named” as the creators of Bitcoin, such as Hal Finney, Dorian S. Nakamoto, Nick Szabo and Elon Musk. However, none of them has been confirmed as the father of Bitcoin.

Theo TechCrunchfinding Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity could affect trust and markets. If exposed, the amount of Bitcoin this person holds (currently over one million tokens) could cause market fluctuations and change the view on Bitcoin’s decentralization. In addition, legal issues and pressure from governments around the world may arise. However, many experts believe that Bitcoin now operates independently, no longer dependent on its founder.