Out of the blue in the mid-2000s rose a legend from the world of cyptography; Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi is credited as the genius creator of both bitcoin and Bitcoin ( to be explained later). However, as popular and widespread the cryptocurrency and system has travelled, little is known about the brain behind the whole enterprise.

As a direct response to the financial crisis of 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned a new and decentralised digital currency system he called bitcoin.

On the 31st of October 2008, Nakamoto published a paper entitled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash system", talking about a payment system based on chain of data blocks (that later became known as blockchains) and the exclusion of third party influence in transactions. He published the paper on the cryptography mailing list at metzdowd.com.

The idea the entity put forward was perfectly timed because the financial crisis of that time had damaged the trust the people had in the traditional financial system, especially the institutions. His proposed novel system needed no financial institutions to function.

It completely eliminated a central controlling body for payment and ensured that nobody proved smart-ass by trying to double-spend (also to be explained later). In fact, Satoshi was the first to solve the problem of double spending.

The severe financial crisis of 2007-2008 was also known as the GFC (Global financial crisis). Simply put, a financial crisis happens when large financial assets suddenly lose a large chunk for their nominal value. That of 2007-2008 happened because banks were taking excess risks and there was a sudden decline in the price of real estate in the US. Even though it happened in America, it affected the world in general and damaged global financial institutions. It was one of the worst five financial crisis the world had experienced!

Suprisingly, in December of 2010, just few years after the proposal, Satoshi completely disappered into thin air! Nobody has heard from him ever since. In fact, for what it's worth, Satoshi Nakamoto might not be a man, a Japanese or even a single person.

Who Satoshi might be

Nakamoto never disclosed any personal information when discussing technical matters.

However, in his P2P Foundation profile as of 2012, Satoshi claimed to be a 37 year old Japanese nationale (so he would be 45 years this year). He is also believed to have been born on the 5th of April. This claims actually raised questions among some because they believed he couldn't have been Japanese if he used english language that well. Also, his software had no Japanese blueprint or writing. In fact, his source code, comments and forum postings even potrayed a british persona. His expressions and spellings made people believe he was either from commonwealth origin or a member of the supposed group using the name as a pseudonymn was.

Over the years, certain people were suspected to be Satoshi. However, only one was even of Japanese descent.

Hal finney (1956-2014)

• He was a pre-bitcoin cryptographic pioneer.

• He was also the first person after Nakamoto Satoshi himself to use , file bug reports and improve the software.

Forbes journalist Andy Greenberg theorized that Finney may have been a ghostwriter on behalf of Satoshi. Unfortunately, he died as a result of complications of ALS.

Nick szabo

• Szabo is a decentralized currency enthusiast.

• He published a paper on 'bit gold', one of the bitcoin's precursors.

• He was also known to have been interested in using peudonyms in the 1990s.

• He however denied being Nakamoto in an email to Domin Frisby, a financial author.

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto

• He is a Japanese American living in California.

• His birth name was really satoshi Nakamoto.

• He was a physicist, software engineer on classified defense projects and computer engineer for tech companies.

• He actually hinted that he was the real Satoshi, but denied ever saying that later

• The pseudonymous account of Nakamoto in the P2P foundation became briefly active, after 5 years of silence, stating: " Iam not Dorian Nakamoto".

Craig Wright

• He is an australian academic.

• Craig was the most controversial of them all.

• He stated he was Satoshi Nakamoto.

• However, bitcoin developers Peter Todd and Jeff Garzik proved he wasn't the owner by rendering his claim unsubstantial.

• May 2019, Wright started using uk libel law to sue people who denied he was the inventor of bitcoin.

Other people, who all denied the speculations include Dr Vili Lehdonvrita, a Finnish economic sociologist, Shinichi Mochizuki, who was a Japanese mathematician, Elon Musk and even drug dealer Paul le Roux to mention a few.

POSSIBLE REASONS FOR HIS ANONYMITY

Satoshi could be the richest man or group in the world. Not only that, he would have international acclaim and praise. However, do these ups outweigh the downs? Definitely not! Some reasons include:

• Possible loss of decentralization

  The fact that a person 'owns' and inevitably 'controls' the system could lead to implementation of regulations on transactions by financial institutions, the government or even Satoshi himself. These regulations can become unbearable and cancel the good that the wonderful cryptocurrency pioneer had done.

• The human factor

  When opportunities present themselves, we humans tend to try our luck with things. Satoshi's step into the light can trigger unwarranted lawsuits, stalking, excess media attention and even physical attacks.

• Avoidance of authority

  Let us face it, the adoption of bitcoin worldwide affected the traditional financial system. Hence, directly or indirectly, the authorities might be after him. Also there were cases where government agencies arrested entrepreneurs in the alternative currency space.

CONCLUSION

13 years after this entity began working on what is now the world's best performing asset, we still can't figure out who or what he is and what plans he/it has for the future. Was this anonymity a smart move?

Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed it. I actually want it to be part of a series. Let me know what you think about it! Bye for now!