A new element in the file “Who is Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin” has just appeared. Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel has hinted that he may have met the person or group behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Thiel affirms that this meeting took place duringa financial crypto conference in Anguilla 23 years ago.
This revelation came as Balaji Srinivasan, Thiel’s partner, believes that the Bitcoin could reach a value of one million dollars.
Given Thiel’s connections at the time, which included Elon Muskthe people of PayPalthe founders of E-Gold, Srinivasan And Vitalik Buterinthe founder of the first Bitcoin magazine, it is plausible that Thiel crossed paths with Satoshi. The exact nature of this link, however, remains uncertain.
Analysis of the potential link between Thiel and Satoshi
Thiel recalls:
“I met them on a beach in Anguilla in February 2000. We were initiating a revolution against central banks… We wanted to make PayPal compatible with E-Gold and overthrow all the central banks.”
The E-Gold project ended in 2007 when the US Department of Justice shut it down and arrested its founders for transmitting undeclared money. The fallout and confiscations of E-Gold continued for more than seven years.
The Financial Cryptography Conference, a longtime rendezvous for cypherpunks, may have been a major source of inspiration that may have fueled Nakamoto’s vision for Bitcoin. Researchers at the conference presented papers such as “Electronic Cash – Technology Will Denationalize Money” and “Efficient Electronic Cash with Restricted Privacy”.
Thiel believes Satoshi had to learn lessons from E-Cash, including bypassing formal organizational structures and adopting MIT’s open source license for bitcoin.
The PayPal “mafia” close to the source
Thiel was a member of what was called the “PayPal Mafia” which formed in the early 2000s, made up of entrepreneurs from FinTech start-ups that have made a lot of money from start-ups and IPOs.
Some of the best-known personalities include Elon Muskfounder of X.com and early proponent of Bitcoin and Dogecoin, and Balaji Srinivasanformer CTO of Coinbase and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Mr. Srinivasan recently attracted attention by betting that Bitcoin would reach $1 million due to possible hyperinflation in the United Statesalthough some suggest it was mostly a publicity stunt.
longtime friends, Srinivasan and Thiel share a mutual contempt for the American banking system and an interest in Seasteading (a concept of creating permanent bases of habitation on the sea, and in particular on sea areas that are not currently claimed by any government). Both argue that Bitcoin needs a sovereign nation to avoid regulation.
Note that Thiel’s Founders Fund wisely transferred billions of dollars from SVB Bank just days before the bank run.
While some dismiss Thiel’s claims, others point to the fact that he allegedly sold off his Bitcoin holdings. Regardless of its current involvement in cryptocurrencies, Thiel undeniably played a role in the early days of the crypto financial community and continues to criticize banks.
At the Bitcoin Miami 2022 conference, Thiel publicly expressed distrust of the US dollar tearing up $100 bills while criticizing the banking system.
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