An Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has publicly claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin.

The 45-year-old has sought to verify his claims through providing technical evidence such as private keys that are only in possession of the Bitcoin owner.

Prominent members in the Bitcoin community have backed up Mr Wrights' claims.

In a blog post published on Monday, Bitcoin Foundation director and economist Jon Matonis said 'the proof is conclusive and I have no doubt that Craig

Steven Wright is the person behind Bitcoin technology, Nakamoto consensus, and the Satoshi Nakamoto name.

While prominent Bitcoin members are swayed others remain sceptical of Mr Wright's claim.
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After years of speculation and rumours, Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has officially announced he is the Bitcoin creator.

Dr Wright was unofficially named as the founder in a report released at the end of last year and the 45-year-old has now outed himself publicly for the first time.

He is also said to have provided 'technical proof' to back up last year's claims, which many believed at the time were an elaborate hoax.

Dr Wright was named in two reports in December 2015 following investigations by Wired and Gizmodo. 

The report features posts on Dr Wright's blog - which was deleted after the report was published - that declared his intent to launch a 'cryptocurrency paper' in 2008.

In another post from 10 January 2009, Wright announced the launch of bitcoin 'tomorrow' - which would have been published in Australian time before the 3pm launch on 9 January in American time.
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FIVE months after Craig Steven Wright, an Australian computer scientist and businessman, was outed against his will as Satoshi Nakamoto, he says he is indeed the creator of bitcoin. On May 2nd he published a blog post offering cryptographic proof, backed up by other information, to make his case. Along with two other media organisations, The Economist had access to Mr Wright before the publication of his post. Our conclusion is that he could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that nagging questions remain. In fact, it may never be possible to prove beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin. Whether people, particularly bitcoin cognoscenti, actually believe Mr Wright will depend greatly on what he does next, after going public.

In December, after he was outed, Mr Wright stayed silent. So why has he now changed his mind? “I’m not seeking publicity, but want to set the record straight,” he explains. He says he called himself “Nakamoto” after a 17th-century Japanese philosopher and merchant, Tominaga Nakamoto, who was highly critical of the normative thought of his time and favoured free trade. (He doesn’t want to say why he picked “Satoshi”: “Some things should remain secret.”)
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Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has identified himself as Satoshi Nakamato, the pseudonymous creator of the digital currency bitcoin.

Wright, who was named as the cryptocurrency’s founder by two separate media investigations in December, made the admission in a blog post on Monday, providing what he says is technical proof of his claim.

He also provided evidence to the BBC, reportedly including the use of cryptographic keys linked to the same blocks of bitcoin Nakamoto sent another developer, Hal Finney, in the currency’s first transaction in 2009.
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If they only had the knowledge to differ a valid from an unvalid key. I think it is enough for them when one fiddles around with the keyboard and have some "KEY ACCEPTED" message coming up to have them convinced.
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"I really do not want to be the public face of anything," he said, expressing regret that he had been forced to reveal his identity.

Why you post your account (THIS in title as in bitbite111 )? You know that it will be tagged as sold?

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For what it's worth: the max HE and max kelly are both lowered now.

Plutus, the mobile payments app that combines Bitcoin and Ethereum, is to hold a crowd sale of its Pluton tokens. The startup has also released a white paper and welcomed some executive talent to the team formerly of PayPal, Visa and Morgan Stanley.

The Plutus white paper states: "Plutus Mobile Application enables a user to make contactless Bitcoin payments at any merchant with a Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled checkout terminal [...] Ethereum allows Plutus to deploy smart contracts to enable secure, peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange of fiat currency and Bitcoin, with the added benefit of automatic escrow. Using these methods, the Plutus Decentralized Exchange Network (PlutusDEX) of traders convert Bitcoin deposits into a prepaid debit balance that is valid at any contactless point-of-sale (POS) terminal."

A blog post about the crowd sale said: "Plutons are digital tokens issued to users on the Ethereum blockchain. Plutons can be distantly compared with cashback points or frequent flier miles programs.
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But I seriously doubt that that person did this unintentionally. It has to be intentional. Perhaps he owns the address 155fzsEBHy9Ri2bMQ8uuuR3tv1YzcDywd4 as well.

Over the weekend, I found myself watching “Tesla: Master of Lightning,” a PBS production streaming on Netflix. From the story of Nikola Tesla, I saw parallels between his invention, alternating current (AC), and what bitcoin has been experiencing for some time now.

On June 6, 1884, Tesla arrived in New York. The Serbian immigrant, who was from modern day Croatia, was thrilled to finally meet his hero, Thomas Edison, the renowned American inventor, who was the force behind direct current (DC).

Tesla could not wait to wow Edison with his alternating current discoveries. Up to that moment, many of the people he had explained the technology to, including his professors, had dismissed it.
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Tokyo-based BitFlyer, the company behind a Japanese bitcoin exchange, announced this week that it has secured about $27 million (3 billion yen) from Venture Labo Investment, SBI Investment, and others.

Companies which have participated in this startup’s previous rounds include Recruit Strategic Partners, Quick (financial news provider), Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, Dentsu Digital Holdings, Incubate Fund, East Ventures, Digital Currency Group and GMO Venture Partners. The latest funding means that the company’s capital adds up to 3.89 billion yen ($34.9 million) — the second largest among all bitcoin exchange companies around the world according to Coindesk.

The company plans to use the funds to strengthen human resources and expand the service overseas, while shoring up its domestic position. As part of these efforts, they have set up a subsidiary in Luxembourg to better cater to the European market. The Tokyo firm recently launched a bitcoin-based payment gateway for e-commerce sites; this follows their launch of a marketplace for investors dealing with Ethereum-based cryptocurrency Ether.
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nah, he probably can get free.

These laws that Russia is looking to implement are getting crazier with the day. It's almost laugh worthy. It's that pathetic.

Here's a state that gets bitcoin.

While I obviously disagree with jailing bitcoin users, Russia is at least understanding the significance of bitcoin, and attempting to preserve itself as an authority.

Thankfully, there's nothing that will stop the power of crypto. Pandora's box has been opened and cannot be closed.

Are you an avid bitcoin user in Russia? If so, you could end up in jail.

The Russian Finance Ministry is preparing to introduce legislation next month that would fine and jail digital currency users, according to Bloomberg. The legislation, which was amended last month, has multiple tiers of penalties depending on the person’s usage, according to Interfax, a Russian news agency. For regular citizens who casually use bitcoin, the penalty is 500,000 rubles ($7,800 USD) or 4 years in jail; for organized groups, like bitcoin miners who confirm transactions on the network, it’s 1 million rubles ($15,500 USD) or 6 years in prison; executives or managers of financial institutions would face a fine of up to 2.5 million ruble ($38,000 USD) or up to 7 years in jail.
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Thanks for your answer but this doesn't give me any information on the arguments FOR or AGAINST transaction fee going up in the future...

Can anyone give some argument for or against transaction fees going up or down in next years, decades...?