Claims about Adam Back being the Bitcoin creator resurface only to repeat previously debunked claims
Another year, another attempt to uncover who Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, is. This time, The New York Times (NYT) attempted to solve the mystery, only to repeat the same claims that have been around for years and have already been dismissed.
The NYT named Adam Back, the CEO of major Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream, as Satoshi. Their conclusion is supported by an analysis of Back's emails and public posts, which appear similar to those of the Bitcoin creator.
Also, according to the article's author, Back's online activity after Satoshi disappeared points to the current CEO being the creator of Bitcoin.
It's not the first time Back has denied such allegations, and he did so again this time.
"I'm not Satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash, hence my ~1992 onwards active interest in applied research on ecash, privacy tech on cypherpunks list which led to hashcash and other ideas," he said on X today, adding that the NYT author fell for confirmation bias.
Due to his work, Back was indeed cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper.
Also, according to Satoshi-not-Satoshi Back, the NYT article is based on a combination of speculative things.
"The rest is a combination of coincidence and similar phrases from people with similar experience and interests – inference Satoshi needed specific skills and experience to discover Bitcoin, where myself and others got "so close yet so far" in design discussions the decade before," he said, noting that he doesn't know who Satoshi is either.
Among the most recent attempts to uncover Satoshi is a disappointing 2024 HBO documentary that claimed that the prominent Bitcoiner developer Peter Todd is Satoshi. Todd denied this as well.
There's also an ongoing debate in the Bitcoin community about whether it's ethical to name a person as Satoshi Nakamoto, as this puts them in danger. Bitcoin blockchain analysts attribute around 1 million BTC ($72.5 billion) to Satoshi. However, these digital coins haven't been moved since the disappearance of the creator, who might as well be dead – or it could be a group of developers.
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