Bitcoin has become the largest cryptocurrency by capitalization (AFP/Archives/Ozan KOSE)
An Australian has been on trial in London since Monday to judge whether he is the father of bitcoin, but he is not the first suspected of being the enigmatic developer behind this founding cryptocurrency.
Its principles are stated on October 31, 2008 in the “white paper”, a nine-page document published under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, which theorizes that “making online payments directly from one third party to another would make it possible not to go through a financial institution.
Bitcoin has since become the largest cryptocurrency by capitalization (to the tune of approximately $880 billion according to the Coingecko website).
But after collaborating with other developers to perfect his code, Satoshi disappeared from screens around 2011, and multiple theories have emerged over the years speculating about who is behind this mysterious nickname.
– Hal Finney –
The first person to receive a bitcoin transaction was the American Hal Finney, a developer and cryptographer, that is to say a specialist in systems intended to encrypt, authenticate and ensure the integrity of data.
But in October 2023, the theory according to which this pioneer of the sector is the father of bitcoin is discredited by a blogger knowledgeable in the field. The amateur investigator explains that he found evidence indicating that Finney, who died in 2014, was participating in a running race at the same time that Satoshi Nakamoto was responding to emails and carrying out transactions on the Bitcoin network.
– Dorian Nakamoto –
In 2014, Dorian Prenctice Satoshi Nakamoto, a retired Japanese-American engineer, was suspected of being Satoshi by Newsweek magazine.
This former physicist and physical engineer, turned libertarian, initially told the author of the article: “I am no longer involved in this and I cannot discuss it. It has been given to other people. They ‘are responsible for it now. I no longer have any connection.’
Pressed with questions from the media, Dorian Nakamoto quickly denied any involvement in the creation of the cryptocurrency.
A bronze statue believed to represent Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of the virtual currency Bitcoin, at the foundry in the village of Nagytarcsa, east of Budapest, on September 10, 2021 in Hungary (AFP/Archives/ATTILA KISBENEDEK)
It is worth noting that in 2012, Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan, on his profile on the website of the P2P Foundation, an organization that studies the impact of technology on society.
But his excellent level of English, peppered with typically British expressions, casts doubt on this hypothesis.
– Nick Szabo –
Also among the first followers of decentralized currencies, Nick Szabo, an American computer scientist of Hungarian origin, was named as a possible inventor of bitcoin by a blogger in December 2013.
But beyond circumstantial elements, there is no tangible evidence to identify him as Satoshi.
– Craig Wright –
Since May 2016, Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur, has publicly claimed to be the inventor of bitcoin.
Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur Craig Wright arrives at court in London, February 5, 2024 (AFP/Archives/Daniel LEAL)
The hypothesis was first put forward by two parallel investigations, published by the magazine Wired and the site Gizmodo the previous year, which subsequently cast doubt on its veracity.
The whimsical businessman quickly becomes the bane of developers on the blockchain, which is similar to a large decentralized transaction register, or exchange platforms like Coinbase, which he accuses of having infringed property rights intellectual that he claims.
He also lost his defamation lawsuit filed against a podcaster who called him an imposture.
Since the beginning of February, the businessman has been on trial in London to determine whether or not he is the author of the “white paper”.
– Elon Musk –
The richest man in the world has not escaped suspicion either.
Elon Musk in London, November 2, 2023 (POOL/AFP/Archives/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
In a series of articles on the Medium site, a former intern at his company SpaceX hypothesizes that Satoshi is actually Elon Musk.
The ex-employee notes that the entrepreneur masters programmatic language and expressions similar to those used by Satoshi, or that a Musk collaborator would have seemed embarrassed by the question on the phone.
Faced with very meager evidence, the tech-savvy billionaire rejected these allegations in November 2017.
– A group, a dead person, or an eternal anonymous person –
Some have also theorized that a work of this magnitude and complexity would more likely be the work of a collective rather than a single developer.
The price of bitcoin (AFP/Archives/Laurence SAUBADU, Sylvie HUSSON)
It is also likely that the real Satoshi Nakamoto has died, or wishes to remain anonymous in order to preserve the integrity of the system he created, based on trust in the multitude rather than one entity or individual.
In addition, if he suddenly decided to recover the approximately 980,000 bitcoins he owns, according to researcher Sergio Lerner’s estimate, the equivalent of nearly $44 billion at current prices, Satoshi could collapse the system he created.
© 2024 AFP
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