In the search for Satoshi’s real identity, people have presented various theories, claimed to be Satoshi himself, and suggested who could be Satoshi Nakamoto. So, today we’ll be looking at the top 10 personalities who could be Satoshi Nakamoto. This list is not only based on their present influence in the crypto space but also on their potential and their numerous crypto investments in the past. These personalities have all been suggested as Bitcoin’s elusive creator on account of similarities they have with the Bitcoin creator.
HAL FINNEY
The California based crypto investor has been adjudged as the creator of bitcoin. He was seen as an early Bitcoin user who was the first to receive the first bitcoin transaction from Bitcoins Creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Another thing that increased the insinuation that Hal Finney could be Satoshi Nakamoto was the fact that Finney lived in the same town that Dorian Nakamoto lived for 10 years (Temple City, California). However, Finney denied all the allegations that he was Satoshi Nakamoto before he died.
However, there have been arguments that Satoshi Nakamoto, who went to extreme lengths to hide his identity could not have revealed himself openly in the person of Hal Finney.
However, writing analysis expert, Juola, and Associates claims that Nakamoto and Finney’s writing has a close resemblance.
NICK SZABO
Nick is another personality that people believe is Satoshi Nakamoto due to his background in computer science. This is also due to the fact that he said that he was going to create a live version of “Bit Gold’ which could have been unveiled a few months later.
Nicks’s numerous posts were seen as the hallmarks of Satoshi. The computer science graduate of Washington University has been speculated as Satoshi Nakamoto. Research by financial author Dominic Frisby gave circumstantial evidence but never admitted that Szabo is Satoshi. However, Szabo in an email in July 2014 said “Thanks for letting me know. I’m afraid you got it wrong doxing me as Satoshi, But I’m used to it” thereby denying the allegation that he was Satoshi Nakamoto.
GAVIN ANDRESEN
The Massachusetts based software developer is another personality that is believed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. The software developer was involved in the development of products for the bitcoin market as early as 2010. Satoshi was said to have handed over the reins of bitcoin development to Gavin before his departure in 2010.
All these have led to insinuations that the two might be the same. Also, research conducted by Stylometry shows that Andresen’s writing closely resembles Satoshi’s than any other person. It is also worthy of note that Gavin was the first to create a bitcoin faucet in 2010 which dispensed 5 BTC to anyone who visited the site and completed a captcha. All these sums up the insulation that he could be Satoshi Nakamoto.
SERGEY NAZAROV
The New York University Philosophy & Management graduate is another personality that people believe could be Satoshi Nakamoto. The Bachelor of Arts graduate and CEO of Blockchain start-up, Chainlink was said to have accidentally revealed that he was working in the blockchain industry for over 10 years during one of his interviews with Ben Chan, the VP of Engineering for Chainlink. However, he immediately tried to cover the statement up after realizing that he didn’t mean it. However, many theories have pointed to Sergey Nazarov as Satoshi, such as the Sergey Nazarov (SN) = Satoshi Nakamoto (SN) theory.
Also, Nazarov seems to have registered the domain smartcontract.com on October 25, 2008. And six days later, Satoshi came out with the first version of the bitcoin white paper. Connecting all the dots, people believe that Nazarov could be Satoshi Nakamoto.
DAVE KLEIMAN
He is another man believed could be Satoshi Nakamoto. An American computer scientist and an author have been claimed to be involved in the invention of bitcoin. He was said to be a member of the Satoshi Nakamoto group along with Craig Wright and Phil Wilson who claimed to be the inventor of bitcoin.
Craig Steven Wright claims that Kleiman was involved in Bitcoin’s invention and that himself, Craig Steven Wright is Bitcoin’s main inventor. However, Craig’s claims have been discarded as a hoax by many people.
ADAM BACK
Adam is a British born cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is currently the CEO of Blockstream which he cofounded in 2014. He was rumored to be Satoshi by Financial Times in 2016. It is because Adam Back was one of the first people to receive an email from Satoshi Nakamoto. Earlier this year, a popular YouTube channel, BarelySociable claimed that Adam Back was Satoshi Nakamoto. However, all these insinuations have been denied by Adam.
RONG CHEN
The computer science graduate of Tsinghua University is another personality that is rumored to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Rong started his career by contributing to the development of the operating system at Microsoft Headquarters for eight years before returning home.
In June 2017, he was said to have dived into cryptocurrency when he took part in the planning and establishment of the Elastos Foundation to support Elastos – a blockchain-driven internet project. Many people are of the view that Rong Chen is Satoshi Nakamoto due to his way of answering questions relating to cryptocurrency.
DORIAN NAKAMOTO
Outside of the fact that he shares the same name as the bitcoins creator, there has not been any other thing that linked Dorian Nakamoto to Satoshi Nakamoto out of the fact that he lived few blocks away from the other Nakamoto. The physic graduate of California polytechnic has come out to deny all the allegations that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. However, there are insinuations that even if Dorian is the face of Satoshi, that he is unlikely the brain behind it. However, due to the name he shares with the bitcoin creator, his popularity has led him to appear in many blockchain conferences worldwide.
WEI DAI
The Chinese computer engineer is another person rumored to be Satoshi Nakamoto. The popular computer engineering graduate is widely known for his numerous contributions to cryptography and cryptocurrencies. He was said to be among the two people contacted by Satoshi Nakamoto when he was developing Bitcoin in 2008 making people believe that he is Satoshi Nakamoto.
In an article in May 2011, notable cryptographer Nick Szabo linked Wei Dai and Hal Finney as the two notable individuals who liked the idea enough to pursue it to a certain limit before Nakamoto came on board. All these have led to rumors on the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto with many suspecting Wei Dai, Nick Szabo, or Hal Finney as Satoshi Nakamoto.
ELON MUSK
The popular entrepreneur has been linked several times as Satoshi Nakamoto due to his numerous investments in cryptocurrency. The rumor was fueled when Sahil Gupta, a former intern at SpaceX wrote a blog post where he said that Elon Musk might probably be Satoshi Nakamoto due to his background in Economics, and his experience in software development. However, Elon Musk has rebuked such rumors stating categorically that he is not Satoshi Nakamoto. Elon even went further to say that he has lost most of the BTC sent to him by friend years back. However, many people still see Elon Musk as one of the top personalities who could be Satoshi Nakamoto.
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Written by: Narender Charan
