Beginners Guide to Blockchain XIII: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Welcome back to Beginner’s Guide to Blockchain.
In this article we will be covering the question “Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?” but before we start I recommend you go and read my other articles as they can fill that thirst for crypto knowledge.
You can find them right here:
- What is Bitcoin?
- What is Blockchain?
- What is Ethereum?
- What is DeFi?
- What is an NFT?
- What is a DAO?
- What is an Altcoin? What is an ICO
- What is Web 3.0?
- Crypto Dictionary (other terms you need to know)
- What are the real risks in crypto?
- What is Decentralization?
- Who is Vitalik Buterin?
Also, before we start with the article on “Who is Satoshi?” you might enjoy knowing I also recorded a brief video for you in case you are more visual, if not just scroll down and start reading.
Now that we are ready, let's get right into it.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Satoshi Nakamoto might just be the father of crypto, he is a person (or a group of people) known for creating bitcoin, the first and most famous cryptocurrency at the moment.
Satoshi also popularized the Blockchain back in 2008.
So you might be thinking, who is this guy? who are the people in the group? and as funny as it sounds…
We have no idea.
The real identity of this character is a total mystery. To start, the name Satoshi Nakamoto is not an actual name… it is a pseudonym.
He or they have always been anonymous and with this, they managed to establish a decentralized digital commodity with a global value of over a trillion dollars.
Satoshi´s crypto wallet hasn't moved since 2013, containing between 750,000 and 1,100,000 bitcoin. As of April 2022, that puts his net worth at up to around 43 billion US dollars.
Throughout the years, there have been many theories of who he could be, here are some of my favorites:
Satoshi’s Identity Conspiracy Theories:
- Dorian Nakamoto
Dorian Nakamoto is the most recognized fake face of Satoshi, just by searching “Satoshi Nakamoto” on google, it will show you a picture of this man, although it is not him.
The reason why people thought it was him is that the people that worked with Satoshi via E-mail described him as a 45-year-old Japanese man, they never saw him in person but it is what they imagined. Also, he lived in the same city as Hall Finney (another participant in the Bitcoin project) this just added up to the thought that Dorian was Satoshi.
This theory was proven false, however, it is still very interesting to learn.
- Nick Szabo
He is a computer scientist in the United States, known to be the first person to introduce smart contacts. There are some clues here and there but he denies it and a lot of people think he is not actually Satoshi.
- Hall Finney
Out of the 3 theories, this is my personal favorite.
Hal Finney is a real pioneer, after Satoshi Nakamoto, he was the first person to run the Bitcoin software, and he was an important developer throughout the cryptocurrency’s first year of life.
He was also the last person that Satoshi Nakamoto interacted with, sadly he passed away around the same time, thus explaining why the wallet hasn’t moved in a long time.
Fun fact: Hall Finney is cryopreserved by the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Basically, he is frozen until science is able to revive him.
Closing thoughts
So there you go, those are my top three theories on who Satoshi might be but here’s one last thought on the subject: nobody really knows who he is and in my opinion, it’s better if we never find out.
Why? because this way Bitcoin belongs to everybody not just to a single-faced entity that could have opinions, backgrounds, or stories behind it that could not benefit the growth of this cryptocurrency.
If you would like to hear more crypto-related stuff, make sure to follow @bychrispace on Twitter and on pretty much all other social media.
Chris Pace.
