The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto still has many bitcoin and crypto fans everywhere scratching their heads. Who is this man, and why has he never come out to garner the respect and praise he deserves for creating one of the world’s most revolutionary financial tools?
Satoshi Nakamoto: The Mystery Continues
Technology expert and philosopher Ted Nelson has now emerged to say that he knows darn well who Nakamoto is, and it’s someone nobody’s ever thought of. He’s pointing the finger at Shinichi Mochizuki, a Princeton graduate and mathematician. Mochizuki was the salutatorian of his class, meaning only one other person earned higher grades.
Nelson has been claiming Mochizuki is the real Satoshi Nakamoto since 2013, but in a recent interview, it becomes clear that his thoughts haven’t changed. He explained:
Does he speak good English? You bet your a**… As I’ve said before in videos, everybody else is looking under the streetlights at famous cryptographers. He is a Newton-level genius as far as mathematics is concerned. Seminars are held on his work, but he doesn’t even attend them.
There have been many theories regarding who Nakamoto is, but for the most part, all these theories appear to have come up short. One controversial figure – John McAfee – claims to know who Nakamoto is and stated not too long ago that the creation of bitcoin occurred through the hands of multiple people, not just one. However, he’s confident that it was just a single person who wrote the whitepaper.
He has since stated that while he’s thought of revealing the identities of those involved, he has since decided against it. Many doubters in the crypto space have taken this as a sign that McAfee doesn’t know much, and that he’s simply trying to attract attention to himself and remain relevant.
Regardless of McAfee’s tactics or ideas, Nelson doesn’t believe that a whole group could be so coordinated as to work on a project as complex as bitcoin and remain anonymous. He’s confident it’s the work of a single person. He states:
It had to be done by a single individual. That single individual had to be a person of extraordinary thoroughness and work ethic because the pieces of bitcoin are so well integrated.
Some Similar Patterns
Nelson also says that Mochizuki and Nakamoto behave similarly in that they do not tout their work on standard platforms. For example, in 2012, Mochizuki posted a work he had developed centering on a math theory known as the ABC conjecture. He also used his actual name for the work. Nelson explains:
He just threw it on the net. He was asked to lecture on it, and he refused. Instead, he just tiptoed away saying he had nothing more to say about it, just as he did in 2011 after giving the world bitcoin.
