Nakamoto

Nakamoto & Bitcoin

Bill M. Woznik

The story of bitcoin and how it came into being as currency is a mystery that society does not know the answer to. The only things known for sure about bitcoin are that a man calling himself “Nakamoto” invented it and many people have accepted bitcoin as currency since. “Nakamoto” never accepted credit for the success of bitcoin, nor did he offer support when bitcoin dropped in value. Who was “Nakamoto”? Why did he create bitcoin and disappear shortly after, never to be heard from again?

One answer could be that the man calling himself “Nakamoto” started off as many other people do; hardworking, feeling unappreciated, and possibly even underpaid at a job of some kind, finally had enough and quit in a burst of righteous anger. The only problem “Nakamoto” had not considered was the wave of problems that no job and many unpaid bills would cause. After the unpleasant experience he had with his last job, “Nakamoto” had no desire to return to the workforce and possibly be subjected to the same treatment he had just endured. He wished to himself that he could use the currency from his Monopoly game to pay his bills and live in luxury.

He thought about how the value of the dollar had dropped in value over the years. He thought back to how gold coins used to be used as currency and thought about how wonderful it would be to be able to use gold coins again. It would be incredible to be able to use coins to buy anything and with the internet, he could use coins online. He would be able to buy anything anytime and he no longer had any need of liquid assets. His bills and money related issues would quickly become things of the past.

For this to work, his idea would have to be universally accepted as a new form of currency. He can start himself off with any amount and no one would or could ever check for validity. As a failsafe, once enough people trusted his currency enough, he could pull the rug out from under them and take their money. The new currency was his creation, and he knew how to manipulate the system for his own financial gain. He could become the richest man in the world in bitcoin.

Nakamoto decided to add a message on a cryptography mailing list entitled, “Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper”. He enclosed a link to a white paper that detailed the information about bitcoin. “Nakamoto” made it known on the white paper that bitcoin is a decentralized, digital form of currency. Nakamoto also came up with the concept of mining bitcoins to keep users of bitcoin honest, even if he was not. Miners verify bitcoin transactions and help to prevent the problem of double-spending. Double-spending is when a user of bitcoin uses the same bitcoin more than once.

After “Nakamoto” had established bitcoin in 2008, in 2011, three years later, he disappeared without a trace. This was when bitcoin surged, and all his social media postings and emails became silent. When asked by a bitcoin developer before his disappearance, “Nakamoto” said he “moved on to other things.” (Chen, 2016)After his disappearance, many journalists claim to have laid eyes on the founder of bitcoin, but all of these were claimed to be misidentifications. Until an Australian entrepreneur by the name of Craig Wright claimed to Wired and Gizmodo that he is “Nakamoto” in 2016. Wright was about to give amazing proof of his identity when the online community found flaws in evidence given by Wright. One security researcher called it a scam and before he would give details, Wright “Nakamoto” disappeared. Wright erased his blog and penned an apology stating he did not “have the courage” (Chen, 2016) to attempt to prove his case.

The origin of bitcoin and its founder is shrouded in mystery. Just as the intentions of its founder may seem now that he has disappeared without a true trace. If his intentions were to improve the world through new monies, why vanish once it becomes widely accepted? As the value of bitcoin even to this day surges, its creator is nowhere to be found. That is the greatest mystery of this tale.