An Australian man went on trial in London this week over his claims of inventing bitcoin — not the first time someone has been linked to being the cryptocurrency’s enigmatic creator.
Computer scientist Craig Wright, 53, says he is “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the pseudonym of bitcoin’s creator and author of a white paper that introduced the cryptocurrency to the world in 2008.
He is being sued by cryptocurrency activists who say he has lied and forged documents in his attempts to pretend he is bitcoin’s founder.
Photo: AFP
Bitcoin saw its popularity skyrocket to become the largest cryptocurrency, and now has a market capitalization of US$880 billion, pricing data site CoinGecko showed.
However, after collaborating with fellow developers to finesse the code, the mysterious Satoshi disappeared from the radar in about 2011. Multiple theories have since emerged regarding his identity:
Hal Finney
US developer and cryptographer Hal Finney was the first person to receive the virtual unit, when Satoshi himself sent him 10 bitcoins as a test.
However, in October last year, the theory that Finney was in fact Satoshi was discredited by a high-profile blogger in the crypto community.
The amateur sleuth said he unearthed evidence suggesting that Finney, who died in 2014, was taking part in a running race at a time when Satoshi had been answering e-mails and carrying out bitcoin transactions, thereby ruling him out.
Dorian Nakamoto
Japanese-American engineer Dorian Nakamoto was among the first to be suspected of shaking up the world of currency, following a report in 2014 by Newsweek magazine that he was behind the digital token.
“I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it. It’s been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection,” he was quoted as saying by Newsweek.
He has since denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.
Back in 2012, bitcoin’s shadowy creator had claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan, according to a profile posted online. Yet critics cast doubt on this hypothesis, citing Satoshi Nakamoto’s excellent English and typically British turns of phrase.
Nick Szabo
Szabo, a US computer scientist of Hungarian origin, was among the early adopters of decentralized cryptocurrencies and was named by a blogger in 2013 as a possible candidate to have created bitcoin.
However, industry insiders argue that there is no tangible proof that he is Satoshi, beyond circumstantial evidence.
Craig Wright
Wright has been on trial this week at London’s High Court, with proceedings expected to last until mid-March.
The enigmatic Australian programmer describes himself on X as “Creator of Bitcoin” and insists he has the required skills and knowledge to have invented it.
Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organization set up to keep cryptocurrency technology free from patents, is suing Wright over his claims first made in 2016.
COPA accuses Wright, nicknamed “Faketoshi” by detractors, of lying about his identity and of forging and manipulating documents.
Wright has been involved in a number of lawsuits brought by himself, but this time around is being asked to defend himself.
Elon Musk
The richest man in the world has also been in the frame, after a former intern at his SpaceX company wrote a series of articles speculating that Satoshi was in fact Musk.
The ex-intern, writing on Medium Web site, claimed the billionaire uses similar language and expressions to those given by Satoshi, adding that a close colleague of Musk seemed too embarrassed to discuss it.
However, tech-savvy Musk rejected the allegations in late 2017 in the face of such meager evidence.
Uncertainty prevails
Despite feverish speculation, uncertainty reigns supreme.
Some commentators argue that a work of such scope and complexity as bitcoin could only be the work of a group of people, rather than a single developer.
Others say that it is highly likely the real Satoshi Nakamoto is either dead — or wishes to preserve the integrity of bitcoin’s collective ethos by maintaining his own anonymity.
Satoshi Nakamoto meanwhile still possesses about 980,000 bitcoins, according to industry researcher Sergio Lerner.
If the bitcoin king is alive, and decides to cash in, that could potentially crash the cryptocurrency because they are together worth about US$44 billion at current prices.
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
VERTICAL INTEGRATION: The US fabless company’s acquisition of the data center manufacturer would not affect market competition, the Fair Trade Commission said The Fair Trade Commission has approved Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s (AMD) bid to fully acquire ZT International Group Inc for US$4.9 billion, saying it would not hamper market competition. As AMD is a fabless company that designs central processing units (CPUs) used in consumer electronics and servers, while ZT is a data center manufacturer, the vertical integration would not affect market competition, the commission said in a statement yesterday. ZT counts hyperscalers such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Google among its major clients and plays a minor role in deciding the specifications of data centers, given the strong bargaining power of
TARIFF SURGE: The strong performance could be attributed to the growing artificial intelligence device market and mass orders ahead of potential US tariffs, analysts said The combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for the whole of last year totaled NT$44.66 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 12.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high, data compiled by investment consulting firm CMoney showed on Saturday. The result came after listed firms reported a 23.92 percent annual increase in combined revenue for last month at NT$4.1 trillion, the second-highest for the month of December on record, and posted a 15.63 percent rise in combined revenue for the December quarter at NT$12.25 billion, the highest quarterly figure ever, the data showed. Analysts attributed the
RSS