On April 23, 2011, Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto wrote to developer Mike Hearn that the project was in “good hands” and that he had moved on. Details are underneath.
One of the final letters Satoshi Nakamoto, the person who invented Bitcoin, wrote was to software developer Mike Hearn on April 23, 2011, exactly 12 years ago.
The creator of Bitcoin specifically said that he, she, or they had “moved on to other things” and with assurance claimed that the project had been placed in “good hands.” Here are all the specifics.
Bitcoin is created by Satoshi Nakamoto, who then vanishes into thin air
As is well known, the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto vanished from view in December 2010. This was following the invention of Bitcoin and the initial application of the technology.
Interestingly, Nakamoto highlighted in his final public message on December 12 of that year that:
“there is more work to be done on DoS (denial-of-service).”
Bitcoin’s creator kept in touch with Mike Hearn, Gavin Andresen, and others. Nakamoto emailed Hearn on April 23, 2011, with the subject “Holding coins in an unspendable state for a rolling time window.”
Hearn also asked about Nakamoto’s return to Bitcoin.
Nakamoto announced that he, she, or they had “moved on to other things,” stating that the project was in “good hands with Gavin and others.”
Bitcoin’s developer also voiced optimism for Mike Hearn’s Java implementation of the currency, Bitcoin.
A few days following these incidents, Nakamoto sent Andresen an email in which he vented his dissatisfaction at the unfavorable depiction he had gotten in the media, as it reads:
I wish you wouldn’t keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure. The press turns it into a corner of pirated currency. Instead take care of the open source project and give more credit to your development contributors; it helps motivate them.
Importantly, this particular email is regarded as the enigmatic Bitcoin creator’s final known communication to anyone.
Speculation surrounding the identity of the subject
A Newsweek report indicated that Bitcoin’s mystery developer, Satoshi Nakamoto, was 64-year-old Japanese-American Dorian Nakamoto, sparking some of the most famous myths.
Nakamoto contested the assertion on the P2P Foundation’s forum. The message read “I’m not Dorian Nakamoto.”
Since no other correspondence from Nakamoto has been unearthed, the emails to Hearn and Andresen have been the only evidence of his testimony for almost a decade.
But why was Dorian Nakamoto believed to be the secretive Bitcoin creator? Everything began precisely in 2014, when Newsweek’s Leah McGrath Goodman wrote the aforementioned piece and claimed that the person in question was Dorian Nakamoto, a resident of California.
Over the past eleven years, several people have claimed to be Satoshi and been mistakenly identified as such.
Goodman’s suspect, who spent two months investigating his tale, didn’t have most of these suspects’ cypherpunk ties. Dorian Nakamoto’s birth name, Satoshi, is a strong evidence for him being Bitcoin’s originator.
Goodman visited Dorian Nakamoto at his California home. Dorian told him that he was “no longer involved in this” and “cannot discuss it.” Goodman and his Newsweek colleagues assumed he was talking about Bitcoin. This led to the idea being published.
The most popular hypotheses on Satoshi Nakamoto, the person who created Bitcoin
As one might expect, there are many hypotheses concerning Satoshi Nakamoto’s genuine identity because no one is really sure if he is a man, a woman, a group of individuals, or something else entirely.
As a result, some people initially began by looking up the Japanese name’s ancestor in order to determine the identity. In actuality, “satoshi” in Japanese refers to “a clear, quick, and wise thought.”
Contrarily, “Naka” might signify “medium,” “within,” or “relationship.” Last but not least, “Moto” might imply “origin” or “foundation.”
However, it has never been shown that these interpretations correspond to the individual who created Bitcoin. Later on, it was also believed to be Trinity College graduate student in cryptography Michael Clear.
Clear, though, denied any involvement on his part in the creation of Bitcoin. A former Finnish video game developer named Vili Lehdonvirta was also suspected by some, but he also denied any association with Satoshi.
Not only that, but in 2017, following a tip from a SpaceX worker, the notion that Elon Musk was hiding behind the alias surfaced online. The businessman later refuted this hypothesis on his Twitter account.
Hypotheses about the true identity of Bitcoin’s inventor have circulated for years. In 2016, Wright made comments that led many to credit him as the driving force behind the invention. As of now, he is widely considered to be the most likely individual behind the creation of Bitcoin.
In any event, there has only been speculation over the years, much of it disproven. As a result, there are numerous questions and not many answers as to who Satoshi Nakamoto really is. One wonders if we will ever learn the genuine identity of Bitcoin’s founder.
