Satoshi Nakamoto facts for kids

Satoshi Nakamoto (born 5 April 1975) is the secret name used by the person or group who created bitcoin. They wrote the main document about Bitcoin and built its first computer program. As part of this work, Nakamoto also invented the blockchain, which is like a special digital record book. Nakamoto worked on Bitcoin until late 2010.

Many people wonder who Satoshi Nakamoto really is. Even though the name sounds Japanese, and Nakamoto claimed to be a man living in Japan, most guesses point to computer and code experts in the United States or Europe.

How Bitcoin Was Created

Satoshi Nakamoto's message in the first Bitcoin block

Nakamoto said that work on the Bitcoin code started in 2007. On August 18, 2008, they registered the website bitcoin.org. On October 31, Nakamoto shared a special document called a "white paper." This paper described a new digital money system called "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."

On January 9, 2009, Nakamoto released the first Bitcoin software. They also started the Bitcoin network by creating the very first block of Bitcoin, called the genesis block. This first block came with a reward of 50 bitcoins.

Inside this first block, Nakamoto included a hidden message. It said: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." This message from a newspaper headline was a way to mark the date. It also seemed to be a comment on how banks were struggling at the time.

Nakamoto kept working with other developers on the Bitcoin software until mid-2010. They made all the changes to the main code themselves. Then, Nakamoto handed over control of the code and other important parts of the project to Gavin Andresen. After that, Nakamoto stopped being openly involved with Bitcoin.

It is believed that Nakamoto owns a lot of bitcoin, possibly between 750,000 and 1,100,000 bitcoins. In November 2021, when Bitcoin reached its highest value, Nakamoto's bitcoins would have been worth up to US$73 billion. This would have made Nakamoto one of the richest people in the world at that time.

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

A statue in Budapest dedicated to Satoshi Nakamoto

Nakamoto never shared personal details when talking about technical things. However, they sometimes commented on banking. On their online profile in 2012, Nakamoto claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan. But some people thought this was unlikely because Nakamoto wrote in English like a native speaker.

Some experts believe that Nakamoto might not be just one person. They think it could be a team. A security expert named Dan Kaminsky said Nakamoto could be a "team of people" or a "genius." Another developer, Laszlo Hanyecz, felt the Bitcoin code was too well-designed for just one person.

The way Nakamoto wrote, using British English words like "flat" (for apartment) and "maths" (for math), made some people think Nakamoto was from a Commonwealth country. The newspaper headline included in the first Bitcoin block also suggested an interest in the British government.

A software engineer named Stefan Thomas looked at when Nakamoto posted online. He found that Nakamoto rarely posted between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. This time would be 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Japan. This unusual sleep pattern, even on weekends, made people doubt Nakamoto lived in Japan.

Possible People Behind the Name

The true identity of Nakamoto is still a mystery. However, many guesses have focused on different experts in computer science and coding, mostly from outside Japan.

Hal Finney

Hal Finney (1956–2014) was an early expert in cryptography, which is the science of secure communication. He was the first person, other than Nakamoto, to use the Bitcoin software. He also reported bugs and helped improve it.

A journalist found that Finney lived near a man named 'Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto'. The journalist had experts compare Finney's writing to Nakamoto's. They found it was the closest match they had seen. However, after meeting Finney and seeing his emails with Nakamoto, the journalist believed Finney was telling the truth when he denied being Nakamoto.

Dorian Nakamoto

In 2014, a journalist named Leah McGrath Goodman suggested that Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto was the Bitcoin creator. He was a Japanese American man living in California. His birth name was Satoshi Nakamoto.

Goodman pointed to several things that seemed to connect him to Bitcoin. Dorian Nakamoto was trained as a physicist and worked on secret defense projects. He also worked as a computer engineer. His daughter said he became a "libertarian," meaning he believed in less government control.

When the journalist asked him about Bitcoin, Dorian Nakamoto seemed to confirm it. He said: "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it. It's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection."

After the article came out, many reporters went to Dorian Nakamoto's house. Later that day, the real Satoshi Nakamoto's online account posted a message saying: "I am not Dorian Nakamoto." Dorian Nakamoto then said he had never heard of Bitcoin before. He explained that he thought the journalist was asking about his secret work for the military.

Nick Szabo

In 2013, a blogger linked Nick Szabo to the Bitcoin white paper. Szabo is interested in digital money and had written about "bit gold," which was an early idea similar to Bitcoin. He was also known for using secret names in the 1990s.

Szabo has said that he, along with a few others, were the only people who liked the idea of digital money enough to work on it before Nakamoto. A financial writer named Dominic Frisby also found many clues that pointed to Szabo. However, Szabo has denied being Nakamoto.

Craig Wright

In 2015, two magazines, Wired and Gizmodo, suggested that Craig Steven Wright was Satoshi Nakamoto. Wright is an Australian academic. Gizmodo claimed that Satoshi Nakamoto was a shared secret name for Craig Wright and a computer expert named David Kleiman, who had passed away.

Wright claimed he chose the name "Nakamoto" to honor a Japanese philosopher. He said he chose "Satoshi" after a Pokémon character because its English name, "Ash," means what the old financial system should become.

Many Bitcoin supporters were not convinced by Wright's claims. Some reports suggested that the evidence he provided might have been a trick. Bitcoin developers said that Wright's public proof did not actually prove anything.

In 2019, Wright started suing people who said he was not the inventor of Bitcoin. He also registered US copyright for the Bitcoin white paper. However, the US Copyright Office clarified that this does not mean they officially recognize him as Satoshi Nakamoto.

Other Possible Candidates

Over the years, many other people have been suggested as Satoshi Nakamoto.

• In 2011, a writer named Joshua Davis suggested Finnish sociologist Dr. Vili Lehdonvirta or Irish student Michael Clear. Both denied it.
• Another journalist, Adam Penenberg, pointed to Neal King, Vladimir Oksman, and Charles Bry. They had filed a patent with a phrase also used in the Bitcoin white paper. All three denied being Nakamoto.
• In 2013, Ted Nelson thought it might be Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki, but Mochizuki denied it.
• Some have also suggested Gavin Andresen, Jed McCaleb, or even a government agency.
• In 2016, the Financial Times suggested Nakamoto might be a group including Hal Finney, Nick Szabo, and Adam Back. In 2020, a YouTube channel claimed Adam Back was Nakamoto, but he denied it.
• Elon Musk also denied being Nakamoto in 2017, after some online speculation.
• In 2021, a developer suggested cypherpunk Len Sassaman as a possible candidate.

See also

In Spanish: Satoshi Nakamoto para niños