Does the NSA know who Satoshi is?

[nlovric]

If the NSA created Bitcoin, why did the CIA need Gavin to brief them on what it was?

It would raise suspicion if they didn't...

That occurred to me, also, but:

• they either screwed up initially and named it after one of their research projects, or
• "Satoshi Nakamoto" read the paper and used the name.

But, why would "Satoshi Nakamoto" use their name? At this point I think it most-likely was created by the National Security Agency (NSA) or one of the people who worked on the Satoshi paper. If I understood correctly, Bitcoin uses 2048-binary-digit-(bit) Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA), which is susceptible to a Time-Memory-Data (TMD) attack. If they precompute the keys,they can also use them to attack Bitcon as well as all other communications secured using "short" Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) keys.

Don't forget that one of the things in the box was Hope...

Yes, I know. It was at the bottom and the only thing left trapped in the jar / box as Pandora closed it, while all evils of the world escaped from the jar / box.

[rizzla]

If I understood correctly, Bitcoin uses 2048-binary-digit-(bit) Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA)

You did not understood correctly.

[xkeyscore89]

Yes, but Satoshi is just a minor detail.

[herzmeister]

Satoshi used Windows + Visual Studio, and Windows always had a backdoor, so...

[iCEBREAKER]

NSA is well aware the only individual with sufficient command of crypto, econ, and English to be Satoshi is Mircea Popescu.

But the straightlaced suits there can't stand him and they're afraid he'll take over, so they leave him alone.   

[nlovric]

NSA is well aware the only individual with sufficient command of crypto, econ, and English to be Satoshi is Mircea Popescu.

<irony>Someone specializing in fine arts sounds very likely to be "Satoshi Nakamoto".</irony>

[JusticeForYou]

Following the Yellow Brick Road will lead to Satoshi. The NSA is very good at following roads but they aren't to good at going through a field of poisonous daisies.

[MysteryMiner]

Satoshi used Windows + Visual Studio, and Windows always had a backdoor, so...

This is like saying that Linux is always secure no mater what. US government uses Windows workstations and a lot of them for sensitive tasks. And how many Russian and Chinese moles there are infiltrated in NSA who know details about this supposed backdoor? Backdoor is too dangerous to implement because there is always chance that somebody will discover it by accident or other means.

I'm more inclined to think that NSA either does not know Satoshi's real identity or figured it out from information lying around in this forum.

[Wilikon]

If the NSA created Bitcoin, why did the CIA need Gavin to brief them on what it was?

I don't believe the NSA created bitcoin because they do not care about currency. The CIA might have a need to create it, the way TOR was created by US Navy Research Lab. But then Treasury would be against and so would the federal bank. The thing is, as much as people (not us on bitcointalk) want to believe, government usually do not know what his left foot is doing that would make his right foot go the opposite way. Many Black box projects are so secret that referencing it or even think about them would send you in jail. Look at the reaction from Lavabit. Can't talk about it. So financing a bitcoin black box project would not cost that much compared to a Los Alamos project or keeping all those people fed at Area 51 for all those years.

This could simply be the "virus escaping the lab" type scenario.

[HGT24]

Ummm, I'm pretty sure Satoshi is 3 individuals by the names of Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry. Fast Company did that investigation on the identity of Satoshi. They tracked it down to a patent filed by these guys 72 hours after the bitcoin.org domain was created.

Is this just a coincidence? Seems doubtful. (See the excerpt from Wiki below)

Satoshi Nakamoto (and the creators of Bitcoin) are either these three individuals OR they are closely tied to a larger group responsible for creating Bitcoin.

Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym for the person or group of people who designed the original Bitcoin protocol in 2008 and launched the network in 2009. Except in connection with Bitcoin, the individual or individuals behind this pseudonym remains publicly unknown. Nakamoto was responsible for creating the majority of the Bitcoin software and was active in making modifications and posting technical information on the BitcoinTalk Forum.[13] Nakamoto's involvement does not appear to extend past mid-2010.[13]

Investigations into the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto have been attempted by The New Yorker and Fast Company. Fast Company's investigation brought up circumstantial evidence linking an encryption patent application filed by Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry on 15 August 2008, and the bitcoin.org domain name which was registered 72 hours later. The patent application (#20100042841) contained networking and encryption technologies similar to Bitcoin's, and textual analysis revealed that the phrase "...computationally impractical to reverse" appeared in both the patent application and bitcoin's whitepaper.[1] All three inventors explicitly denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.[54][55] In May 2013, Ted Nelson speculated that Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki is Satoshi Nakamoto.[56]

In April 2011, Nakamoto communicated with a Bitcoin contributor saying he had "moved on to other things".[57]

[manfred]

One thing is certain he lived around the Dutch, German border area at the time when Bitcoin was coded. And yes NSA do know him so what.

The name Satoshi Nakamoto has a deeper meaning.
In Japanese Satoshi translates into "clear-thinking; quick-witted; wise." "Naka" can mean "inside" or "relationship" while "moto" is defined as "the origin; the cause; the foundation; the basis."

So we have "clear-thinking" "inside" "the foundation."
 

[MysteryMiner]

In game Battlefield 1942 there japanese bot called Satoshi. Forget his full name. Stop inventing deeper meaning to what was intended as cool sounding pseudonym. Like there is no really deeper meaning in Seppuku Fujitsu. But someone still might find a way to connect Seppuku Fujitsu to NSA

If NSA knows who Satoshi is then it might be safer for him to reveal that to whole world.

[polrpaul]

chances are... they know... who your mother is.. 

[MysteryMiner]

chances are... they know... who your mother is..  

now that's information worth governmental funding! I know who my mother is too!

[Taras]

If Satoshi is not a real person then who ordered the Pizza?

Several months late but...
Satoshi didn't buy the pizzas, laszlo did.
Satoshi's perfectly real, though 

[b!z]

Why does it matter who satoshi is/is not? Whether his identity is known or not would not make a big difference to Bitcoin.

[TiagoTiago]

If the NSA created Bitcoin, why did the CIA need Gavin to brief them on what it was?

I don't believe the NSA created bitcoin because they do not care about currency. The CIA might have a need to create it, the way TOR was created by US Navy Research Lab. But then Treasury would be against and so would the federal bank. The thing is, as much as people (not us on bitcointalk) want to believe, government usually do not know what his left foot is doing that would make his right foot go the opposite way. Many Black box projects are so secret that referencing it or even think about them would send you in jail. Look at the reaction from Lavabit. Can't talk about it. So financing a bitcoin black box project would not cost that much compared to a Los Alamos project or keeping all those people fed at Area 51 for all those years.

This could simply be the "virus escaping the lab" type scenario.

What would be the use of Bitcoin if only the "agents" know about it?

[Hawker]

YES.

what if he always routed through an encrypted tunnel to a vpn?

Which he did.  No-one knows any IP he has ever connected from.  The guy was ultra careful.

[dank]

What makes you all think the NSA created it over the CIA?  CIA has the higher beings working for them.

[niothor]

YES.

what if he always routed through an encrypted tunnel to a vpn?

Which he did.  No-one knows any IP he has ever connected from.  The guy was ultra careful.

Isn't that even more suspicious?