One of the greatest modern mysteries is the creator behind Bitcoin. His or her anonymity may never be resolved, and for good reason, as US laws dictate that its, “a violation of federal law for individuals…to create private coin or currency systems to compete with the official coinage and currency of the United States.”
So who is the founder or founders of Bitcoin? Let’s examine what we know.
Bitcoin was created by an individual or group of individuals known as Satoshi Nakamoto; this is known by examining the Bitcoin whitepaper which was published back in 2008 following the crash of the financial system. The true identity beyond the pseudonym, last active in 2010, has never been revealed.
Little is known about Satoshi and the small amount of information that has been deciphered comes from a total of a few hundred messages – primarily consisting of posts back in 2009 on a forum known as BitcoinTalk.
BitcoinTalk is the earliest forum that discussed the development of Bitcoin and is still considered to be one of the most important hubs for the development of the cryptocurrency; the forum is still active today and can be found here.
Satoshi’s last known communication was on December 12, 2010 when Satoshi wrote in BitcoinTalk, and we quote “moved on to other things”; additionally, Satoshi stated that the development has been passed off to other people.
Many have speculated and it is widely agreed that Satoshi Nakamoto was a pseudonym and that Bitcoin was created by a group of people rather than a single person. Many think that the creator or creators were from the U.K. due to the spelling of certain words on the forum like “favour” rather than the American version of “favor”. Additionally, Satoshi used “flat” to refer to apartments, however this could be another affectation to better anonymise the creator/creators.
Let’s examine other key information that is known about the person or people using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. We’ll examine Bitcoin’s first transaction and Satoshi’s net worth.
When Was Bitcoin Created?
The Bitcoin whitepaper – “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-peer Electronic Cash System” – was published on October 31, 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto. The first Bitcoin transaction – the “genesis block” – occurred on January 3, 2009; it was between Satoshi and Hal Finney – a contributing developer and early adopter of Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin whitepaper was published on the Bitcoin.org website and the official whitepaper can be found here.
Three months later, the “genesis block” occurred which was a test transaction in which Satoshi sent 10 Bitcoins to Hal finney; this transaction was historically significant as it marked the first use of Bitcoin as a currency. As a result, January 3 is now referred to amongst blockchain enthusiasts as “Genesis Block Day”.
The node that verified the transaction, which was the only one at the time and was being run by Satoshi, received 50 BTC for verifying the transaction. Today, miners (which are a form of a blockchain node) receive 6.25 BTC for verifying transactions, however this reward will soon be cut in half due to the Bitcoin halving.
Given that Satoshi was the creator and received 50 BTC for verifying the first transaction, let’s examine Satoshi’s net worth.
What Is Satoshi’s Net Worth?
The exact net worth of the pseudonymous creator behind Bitcoin, known as Satoshi Nakamoto, is unknown; however, the amount of Bitcoin traced to wallets likely owned by Satoshi hold at least a million Bitcoin. That being said, those Bitcoins have never left any of those wallets.
As we don’t know who Satoshi Nakamoto is, it’s by definition impossible to assign a net worth to this person or group of people.
Given that early wallets own at least 1 million Bitcoin, Satoshi is likely a multi billionaire; this obviously depends greatly on the price of Bitcoin. Again, it is unknown if these wallets are actually owned by Satoshi as no funds have ever been touched.
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