Identity of Satoshi Nakamoto Revealed

[PenAndPaper]

Satoshi Nakamoto is the project name for cryptocoins.
It all started in 1996 with NSA.

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/money/nsamint/nsamint.htm#Introduction

Stop hunting ghosts.

And who was satoshi that was writing on mail lists and here on the forum?
(Please say that it was an ai computer and not some agents or something)

[mrb]

I agree with this theory, that Nick Szabo is Satoshi.

To me, the biggest piece of evidence that very few people discuss, is the fact that Nick Szabo attempted to post-date his "bit gold" post from 2005 to 2009, after the release of Bitcoin.

That's funny. So the witch hunt continues. Anyway Nick Szabo created the "bitgold" after getting inspiration from Wei Dai (who in 1998 created the digital currency b-money). And Dai was inspired by David Chaum, who first proposed cryptographic system for untraceable payments in 1982. The list will go on and on.......

But why would Nick Szabo suddenly attempt to post-date his "bit gold" post, literraly 2 months after the Bitcoin whitepaper was published?

Also, the design of bit gold is a lot closer to bitcoin, than b-money or what Chaum worked on.

[oakpacific]

I agree with this theory, that Nick Szabo is Satoshi.

To me, the biggest piece of evidence that very few people discuss, is the fact that Nick Szabo attempted to post-date his "bit gold" post from 2005 to 2009, after the release of Bitcoin.

That's funny. So the witch hunt continues. Anyway Nick Szabo created the "bitgold" after getting inspiration from Wei Dai (who in 1998 created the digital currency b-money). And Dai was inspired by David Chaum, who first proposed cryptographic system for untraceable payments in 1982. The list will go on and on.......

But why would Nick Szabo suddenly attempt to post-date his "bit gold" post, literraly 2 months after the Bitcoin whitepaper was published?

Also, the design of bit gold is a lot closer to bitcoin, than b-money or what Chaum worked on.

But why would Satoshi, who was so thorough in hiding his trails, settle with the name 'Bitcoin', despite its apparent similarity to ' bit gold'? If he was familiar with Szabo's work he should not have overlooked this, especially he should not on one hand coin such a name, and on the other hand pretend to have no knowledge of Szabo's work.

[Mylon]

I agree with this theory, that Nick Szabo is Satoshi.

To me, the biggest piece of evidence that very few people discuss, is the fact that Nick Szabo attempted to post-date his "bit gold" post from 2005 to 2009, after the release of Bitcoin.

That's funny. So the witch hunt continues. Anyway Nick Szabo created the "bitgold" after getting inspiration from Wei Dai (who in 1998 created the digital currency b-money). And Dai was inspired by David Chaum, who first proposed cryptographic system for untraceable payments in 1982. The list will go on and on.......

But why would Nick Szabo suddenly attempt to post-date his "bit gold" post, literraly 2 months after the Bitcoin whitepaper was published?

Also, the design of bit gold is a lot closer to bitcoin, than b-money or what Chaum worked on.

But why would Satoshi, who was so thorough in hiding his trails, settle with the name 'Bitcoin', despite its apparent similarity to ' bit gold'? If he was familiar with Szabo's work he should not have overlooked this, especially he should not on one hand coin such a name, and on the other hand pretend to have no knowledge of Szabo's work.

Your looking at it from the wrong perspective, Satoshi doesn't have to care, he is MIA.
If Szabo would be Satoshi... now then you're looking at a whole bunch of dead give-aways. Similarity in name, Similarity in design, same time frame.
The logical assuming to make though (most likely scenario) is that Satoshi read about Szabo's work, and got inspired by it. Then all of a sudden some of Satoshi's earlier comments would also make more sense.
"I'm better with code than with words. Until I knew I could figure out all the code problems, I wasn't sure to post." *note paraphrasing here, can't be bothered to look up the exact wording.
And all of a sudden, the picture of Satoshi becomes much different. He doesn't have to have the economics, he doesn't have to have the math. (All that stuff was done by Szabo) All that is needed it a brilliant computer programmer, who understand crypto (which just means that he had to have been doing some work on program / communication security) and has a liberal mindset.
Only one problem, this would put Satoshi from a candidate range of a hundred into a range of thousands if not ten thousands.

[oakpacific]

I agree with this theory, that Nick Szabo is Satoshi.

To me, the biggest piece of evidence that very few people discuss, is the fact that Nick Szabo attempted to post-date his "bit gold" post from 2005 to 2009, after the release of Bitcoin.

That's funny. So the witch hunt continues. Anyway Nick Szabo created the "bitgold" after getting inspiration from Wei Dai (who in 1998 created the digital currency b-money). And Dai was inspired by David Chaum, who first proposed cryptographic system for untraceable payments in 1982. The list will go on and on.......

But why would Nick Szabo suddenly attempt to post-date his "bit gold" post, literraly 2 months after the Bitcoin whitepaper was published?

Also, the design of bit gold is a lot closer to bitcoin, than b-money or what Chaum worked on.

But why would Satoshi, who was so thorough in hiding his trails, settle with the name 'Bitcoin', despite its apparent similarity to ' bit gold'? If he was familiar with Szabo's work he should not have overlooked this, especially he should not on one hand coin such a name, and on the other hand pretend to have no knowledge of Szabo's work.

Your looking at it from the wrong perspective, Satoshi doesn't have to care, he is MIA.
If Szabo would be Satoshi... now then you're looking at a whole bunch of dead give-aways. Similarity in name, Similarity in design, same time frame.
The logical assuming to make though (most likely scenario) is that Satoshi read about Szabo's work, and got inspired by it. Then all of a sudden some of Satoshi's earlier comments would also make more sense.
"I'm better with code than with words. Until I knew I could figure out all the code problems, I wasn't sure to post." *note paraphrasing here, can't be bothered to look up the exact wording.
And all of a sudden, the picture of Satoshi becomes much different. He doesn't have to have the economics, he doesn't have to have the math. (All that stuff was done by Szabo) All that is needed it a brilliant computer programmer, who understand crypto (which just means that he had to have been doing some work on program / communication security) and has a liberal mindset.
Only one problem, this would put Satoshi from a candidate range of a hundred into a range of thousands if not ten thousands.

Satoshi improved Szabo's math, so he indeed needs to have the math.  In fact he made a number of decisions when examined retrospectively revealing very profound, perhaps above public knowledge understanding of cryptography, hashed address being one example, secp256k1 in place of secp256r1 being another.

That being said, I believe it was indeed common sense within a small circle about what economic characteristics  maybe desirable in such a currency, just the implementation details are lacking.

Also, the psychological implications of mining for speculators maybe his unique insight or unintended consequences, we may never know.

Intelligence and knowledge being one thing, the determination to go at it alone for many years being another, also, the self-restraint to not premine, the openness and communication skills to build a society around you, the friendliness he displayed when interacting with people, and the grace to exit and vanish are all characters you can't find on everyone, some of which are important to get Bitcoin kick-started in the first place.

[mrb]

I agree with this theory, that Nick Szabo is Satoshi.

To me, the biggest piece of evidence that very few people discuss, is the fact that Nick Szabo attempted to post-date his "bit gold" post from 2005 to 2009, after the release of Bitcoin.

That's funny. So the witch hunt continues. Anyway Nick Szabo created the "bitgold" after getting inspiration from Wei Dai (who in 1998 created the digital currency b-money). And Dai was inspired by David Chaum, who first proposed cryptographic system for untraceable payments in 1982. The list will go on and on.......

But why would Nick Szabo suddenly attempt to post-date his "bit gold" post, literraly 2 months after the Bitcoin whitepaper was published?

Also, the design of bit gold is a lot closer to bitcoin, than b-money or what Chaum worked on.

But why would Satoshi, who was so thorough in hiding his trails, settle with the name 'Bitcoin', despite its apparent similarity to ' bit gold'? If he was familiar with Szabo's work he should not have overlooked this, especially he should not on one hand coin such a name, and on the other hand pretend to have no knowledge of Szabo's work.

Simple: because Satoshi/Szabo isn't perfect. He committed small mistakes. Szabo loved the system he invented so much that he spent non-negligible time thinking about a name for it (bit gold)! So, then he implements it, and it was hard for him to not take inspiration from the name bit gold that he loved, so he comes up with bitcoin. Perhaps he thought about people commenting on the name similarity, but he may have thought "what the heck, I love the name, it's just a name, I am fine with it being similar".

[bryant.coleman]

The logical assuming to make though (most likely scenario) is that Satoshi read about Szabo's work, and got inspired by it. Then all of a sudden some of Satoshi's earlier comments would also make more sense.

This seems to be the most possible conclusion. And we should remember that Bitcoin and Bitgold are not similar at all, despite their names suggesting otherwise.

[bitgold]

Don't count me out, I want to be Satoshi! 

[mrb]

we should remember that Bitcoin and Bitgold are not similar at all, despite their names suggesting otherwise.

You are kidding right? Bit gold is incredibly similar to Bitcoin, it has:
- decentralization
- chains of proof-of-work
- timestamps (ie. ordering in the block chain)
- digital signatures to represent transactions

[Rygon]

Many of us who are bullish on Bitcoin prices would prefer that Satoshi's identity remain a secret. If he was ever identified, without a doubt, there would be much less incentive for him to leave his mined coins untouched. In fact, Satoshi might have to sell some of those coins to pay for security and other inconviences that comes with being a controversial public figure.