I never understood why "Satoshi Nakamoto" had to hide for creating Bitcoin. It is nothing more than a programming code.
Apparently in the United States and many other countries it is illegal to issue your own currency, but for a long time Bitcoin has not been considered a currency, it simply was not regulated.
If the legislation has not changed, how is it possible that new cryptocurrencies are now appearing every day? If a project issues a token to finance its ICO, is not it issuing currency illegally?
Now it seems that different countries are beginning to regulate cryptocurrencies, but the criteria differ in each country and even contradict each other jurisdictions, a sentence published by the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2015 includes bitcoin within the category of "currencies, bank notes and currencies that are legal means of payment", therefore the Bitcoin is not illegal, which contradicts the criterion of the majority of governments of the European Union and institutions such as the European Central Bank, which do not consider virtual currencies as a means of payment.
Can something that is initially illegal be regulated?
Satoshi Nakamoto didn't hide or run away because he was doing something illegal.
He decide to keep himself anonymous for a greater good. If his identity was a known he could be a problem for bitcoin. Bitcoin decentralization idea could be compromised, centralizing everything on him. Everything he says, every tweet he makes, everything he buys, would be linked to bitcoin.
Bitcoin should not have an owner, a face. One of the things that made bitcoin's success was satoshi's anonymity.
I think he what he did was a truly altruist attitude.
Regarding new created coins, it's not illegal in most countries. Depends on each country legislation