The mystery of Bitcoin Founder "Satoshi Nakamoto"

The founders of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency go by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Although the name Satoshi Nakamoto is frequently associated with Bitcoin, the real person who bears the name has never been identified, leading many to speculate that it is a pseudonym for a person or group of persons with a different identity.

Satoshi Nakamoto is the most mysterious figure in bitcoin, according to most people. It is uncertain if the name refers to a single individual or a group of people at this time. What is known is that Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a paper in 2008 that catapulted bitcoin development.

Nakamoto advocated a decentralised solution to transactions, which led to the development of blockchains. In a blockchain, a transaction's timestamp is appended to the end of previous timestamps depending on proof-of-work, establishing an immutable historical record.

It is difficult, if not impossible, for a bad actor to obtain enough control of the system to rewrite the ledger to their own benefit because the record of transactions is dispersed among multiple nodes in the system. Small-scale assaults are discouraged due the amount of computer power necessary to reverse the blockchain data.

Because the record of transactions is scattered among different nodes in the system, it is difficult, if not impossible, for a bad actor to gain enough control of the system to alter the ledger to their own profit. Due to the amount of computer power required to reverse the blockchain data, small-scale attacks are prohibited.

Satoshi Nakamoto History

The alter ego Satoshi Nakamoto was a key figure in the development of Bitcoin in the early years, contributing to the initial version of the programme in 2009. Because there were no personal or background facts available for Nakamoto, it was difficult to determine who he was.

However, Nakamoto's participation with Bitcoin ceased in 2010. The last email anybody had with Nakamoto stated that they had "gone on to other things" in an email to another crypto developer. The inability to put a face to the name has sparked a lot of conjecture about Nakamoto's identity, especially as the quantity, popularity, and prominence of cryptocurrencies grew.

While the identity of Nakamoto has yet to be established, it is predicted that the value of bitcoins under his control—estimated to be about 1 million—may reach $50 billion. Given that the maximum number of bitcoins that may be created is 21, Nakamoto's 5% interest in the overall bitcoin holdings has significant market power. Several persons have claimed to be the "genuine" Satoshi Nakamoto, but none of them has been verified to be Nakamoto.

Bitcoin's Blockchain Provides Insights

Analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain has aided in determining which addresses are most likely to be Satoshi Nakamoto's with a high degree of certainty. Satoshi possesses roughly 1 million bitcoin or 100 million dollars, according to chain analysis by Sergio Demián Lerner, the principal scientist of RSK Labs. These addresses may be traced all the way back to Bitcoin's inception in 2009.

Bitcoins from some very early addresses have been shifted throughout the years, prompting people to wonder if it was Satoshi each time (even though there were some other miners active). So far, this investigation has revealed that none of these transactions were most likely from Satoshi addresses, and that his bitcoin stockpile remains inactive.

On May 21, 2020, @whale alert, a Twitter account that monitors several blockchains and detects significant transactions, tweeted:

"40?#BTC?(391,055 USD) transferred from possible?#Satoshi?owned wallet (dormant since 2009) to unknown wallet. The coins in this transaction were mined in the first month of Bitcoin's existence."

This sparked an outpouring of support on Twitter. The @Bitcoin Twitter account conducted a poll on whether Twitter users were bullish, neutral, or pessimistic on the possibility that this was Satoshi. Bearish had the upper hand at initially. A day later, 34% of those who responded said they were bullish, 35.6 percent said they were neutral, and 30% said they were pessimistic.

Despite the fact that evidence on the blockchain pointed to someone other than Satoshi, many Twitter users assumed it was him and began to worry that Satoshi was selling his bitcoin holdings. Fear and uncertainty seemed to dominate the comments area, with some questioning if they should sell and others promising to sell soon away.

Others tried to explain that these addresses were most likely not Satoshi's and that, even if they were, they may have been migrating to another address rather than selling on an exchange (proposing that Satoshi was not actually dumping his bitcoin). Many others also questioned why it mattered if Satoshi wants to move bitcoin or sell it, claiming that Bitcoin is decentralised and that one person's actions, whether or not they are Satoshi's, should not matter.

Regardless, the price plunged 4% as soon as the news was out, demonstrating how unpredictable these markets are and how rapidly news, even if unverified or false, may swing a market. It also demonstrated that, despite the fact that Bitcoin is decentralised, with no one leader or control point, the community is still so infatuated with its inventors that one individual or a group of people may exert some power over the system.