Wired has come out and claimed that the inventor of Bitcoin is an Australian who faked Newsweek into believing that a Japanese National living in the US was the original creator.
Earlier this year Newsweek created headlines around the world when it “outed” the creator of digital currency Bitcoin as being a 64-year-old Japanese American “Satoshi Nakamoto”, who was living near Los Angeles.
That “scoop” was a dud according to Wired.
 Click to enlarge |
| Claimed bitcoin creator Steven Wright |
It now appears that Dorian Nakamoto (birth name Satoshi) ended up suing Newsweek after he said his life was turned completely upside down.
Wired claims that Bitcoin creator “Satoshi Nakamoto” is a pseudonym used by a 44-year-old Australian cryptologist named Craig Steven Wright.
Shortly after we posted this story the Sydney home of Wright was raided by 10 Federal Police officers acting on a warrant based on information supplied by the Australian Tax Office.
The Australian Federal Police attended Mr Wright’s home in Gordon, on Sydney’s north shore, on Wednesday afternoon, it’s believed that he has been subject to a major tax audit connected with Bitcoin transactions.
“Either Wright invented bitcoin,” Wired’s Andy Greenberg and Gwen Branwen write, “Or he’s a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did.”
Bitcoin is a virtual currency built around a complicated cryptographic protocol and a global network of computers that oversees and verifies which coins have been spent by whom.
Its anonymous nature means it is a popular choice for criminal activity as it is extremely difficult to trace who is spending Bitcoin.
The currency’s creator (or creators, perhaps) is proving just as difficult to trace.
Wired cite leaked documents it says shows communication between Dr Wright and his lawyers in which he is reported to have said: “I did my best to try and hide the fact that I’ve been running Bitcoin since 2009.
“By the end of this I think half the world is going to bloody know.”
I’ve tried to reach Dr Wright, but to no avail. His blog was taken offline shortly after Wired published its report, while Dr Wright’s Twitter account went from being protected to being deleted altogether.
According to the online profiles that remain online, he runs DeMorgan Ltd, which is a Company that was first registered in 2014 in Robina Queensland a suburb that seems to generate a high percentage of online Companies flogging cheap gear, health fixes and the latest in flaky gadgets.
Leaked emails and transcripts back up what the magazine says – pointing to Dr Wright having huge stashes of Bitcoins, which he among other things used to invest in setting up a Bitcoin bank.
But, and it’s a big but, Wired is quick to pre-emptively point out the potential holes in its theory – saying it could be a very elaborate hoax.
“The unverified leaked documents could have been faked in whole or in part,” the magazine said.
But later adds: “But this much is clear: If Wright is seeking to fake his Nakamoto connection, his hoax would be practically as ambitious as bitcoin itself.”
The body of evidence presented is certainly compelling, and fills in many of the holes not covered by other supposed outings of the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, who is fast becoming something of a Lord Lucan for the digital world.
