Satoshi Nakamoto: The Most Likely Candidate
The barely Sociable video "Bitcoin - Unmasking Satoshi Nakamoto" has nothing to do with Bitcoin Cash, unlike the point maximalists tried to promote back when it was produced.
This video does not influence investment decisions, and finding a new Satoshi connection does not seem to matter from an investing perspective. Adam Back is not a criminal, but a known cypherpunk with a PhD in Computer Systems. Hence, Bitcoin's public image would not decline if it was him.
Tone Vays and Jimmy Song presented facts in a distorted approach when they tried to discredit Barely's work with a provocative strategy that, in the end, only enhanced his argument.
Occasionally, when statements lack credibility and influencers throw random accusations, this will backfire.
We previously covered this response to Barely's video, and a large spectrum of Satoshi candidates, but ultimately we failed to identify substantial evidence proving his theory.
The fact is that Adam Back is still one of the top candidates, but his overall behavior goes against what Satoshi Nakamoto desired for Bitcoin.
Satoshi intended Bitcoin to be widely used in commerce and suggested how Bitcoin would scale by increasing the 1MB bottleneck that limited Bitcoin's capabilities.
Adam Back, on the other hand, did everything possible to sustain this limit and pushed second-layer solutions while he knew well Lightning would never work for mass adoption.
Therefore, there is a troubling discrepancy in the case of Adam Back despite the vast array of clues that make him a top Satoshi candidate.
Circumstantial Evidence Piling Up
This article is related to the previous series of articles concerning Satoshi's identity:
Absolute certainty demands facts that can't be countered.
Barely Sociable's documentary pointed to Adam Back as Satoshi.
Although, there are more clues and evidence to examine, which was not discussed. Coincidences and clues that perhaps accidentally appear only further increase these odds.
Ignoring deceptive articles and planted clues pointing to irrelevant candidates is difficult.
Yet, once again, suspicions about Adam Back are undeniable the more we investigate.
Adam Back since 2012 tried multiple times to associate Hashcash with Bitcoin and even claimed Bitcoin was an extended version of HashCash!
Yet, the first paper that described proof-of-work (for the exact same reason as hashcash did - to combat email spam) was already an academic paper five years before Adam Back released his version of Proof of Work.
Moreover, according to Adam Back, Wei Dai's b-money was also an extension of hashcash:
Adam Back and b-money:
"b-money seems to be book entry ecash system related to hashcash, where the "book" is open, and distributed." - Adam Back 1998
Back is suggesting that his work influenced both b-money and Bitcoin, however, he also fails to mention that Proof of Work was first established by Dwork and Naor in 1992, five years before Hashcash (1997)
Barely Sociable's claim gained significant attention not because of the story itself but due to the disproportionate reaction of Tone Vays and Jimmy Song. Their attempt to disprove the story fell short, which only further fueled the interest in the story.
During the live stream that lasted two and a half hours, the two maximalists passionately presented their point of view. However, they were unable to persuade anyone.
Barely was also invited to speak on the show, but he wasn't allowed to respond to the criticisms made against him and his work.
Tone Vays resorted to censorship and a distasteful one-sided ad hominem attack.
All this excessive attempt to debunk Barely Sociable while constantly accusing Bitcoin Cash and naming Roger Ver as the instigator of this video was entirely absurd.
We covered this part more extensively in this part of the Satoshi series:
Tone Vays unwittingly became a decisive factor that bolstered Barely's claims.
The key to this case is the email exchange between Satoshi and Adam Back.
Of course, it is highly convenient that Adam Back is the sole person on the planet who has access to these emails, yet, he is also the only one that exchanged emails with Satoshi and hasn't made them publicly available.
In Conclusion
Undoubtedly, Adam Back’s stance raises questions since he has admitted to email correspondence with Satoshi, but he is the only person who hasn’t released the emails to the public.
Barely’s approach concerning the scaling debate is admirable.
He reaches the conclusion any other unbiased observer would describe regarding the events that took place in r/bitcoin and the massive censorship the big block side endured.
It (still) serves the BTC maximalists to hide this dark page of history, which brought Adam Back into a powerful position in the Bitcoin decision-making process.
A handful of individuals who didn’t want Bitcoin’s progress stopped the blocksize upgrade and hijacked the developments. Blockstream (backed by banks and Mastercard) was the weapon used to undermine Bitcoin’s exponential adoption as Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash.
Satoshi’s identity will probably trouble us for an eternity.
Sometimes, we can reach a solution via alternative routes. Proof by contradiction, for example, excludes the rest of suspects and points to one particular individual.
Yet, once more, we find ourselves with only a suspect, circumstancial evidence and uncertainty.
We will soon revisit this concept from a fresh angle that will completely change the investigation and focus on a more plausible scenario.
Cover Photo: by " Stillness InMotion" on Unsplash (modified)
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I still think Satoshi was team not a person