Let me be perfectly clear. I do not think Satoshi wants to harm Bitcoin.

However, as a community we need to think rationally about the greatest threats to the Bitcoin project and the best way to mitigate those potential threats. Please treat this as healthy critique to provoke discussion to make bitcoin stronger, not as an attack or proposal.

When I introduce people to Bitcoin, I'm often frustratingly told it is a pyramid scheme because the early adopter(s) own such a high share. I optimistically counter that Satoshi foresaw this and mined as many early bitcoins as he could without the intention of spending them to protect the future integrity from such an unequal wealth distribution.

While I have my doubts about the latest 'unveiling' of Satoshi - it has made me acutely aware we have still no idea who owns these early mined coins, nor their intentions. These untouched coins, if ever they became active, could have huge potential to create instability and damage to Bitcoin. An individual's personal circumstances and motivations can change unpredicatably, people can be put under duress. For example if somebody found out you were Satoshi and threatened harm to you or your family unless you did everything in your power to destroy the bitcoin project, wouldn't you?

The early mined 'untouched' bitcoins represent, to me, the biggest the potential source of damage to the entire project that can be weilded by one individual. The bigger the project becomes, the greater a liability they become.

One possible solition, to safeguard the future of Bitcoin, could be to build into the protocol a rule which prevents these early bitcoins from ever being spendable after a certain date. This gives Satoshi an opportunity to move a quantity (or all the coins) of his choosing IF he wants (or still even has the private keys) to.

That way, the potential weakness is resolved now, rather than a cloud which hangs over the project and potentially threatens it indefinitely.

I do not think Satoshi will act against the best interests of the project, but if there is a risk, no matter how small, I think we have to consider the options to make Bitcoin as succesful as it possibly can be.