Satoshi Nakamoto - 1,5 million Bitcoins - We need answers

[aq]

considering his genious design and superb execution, Satoshi deserves at least 3 million btc

if we assume that he owns the genesis block http://blockexplorer.com/block/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f and hence also owns the very address, we can all start donating, which apparently some people do already: http://blockexplorer.com/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa
But it is still a long way to 3 million

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[the joint]

In my opinion, anybody who thinks 'Satoshi' didn't create Bitcoin with the intention (at least, in part) of getting rich, I think you're fooling yourself.  It's clearly built into the structure.

At this point, it's in the hands of the community.  The OP's post is relevant because depending on how many BTC Satoshi owns, he can cash out at any time.  The stronger the community becomes, that gives Satoshi less incentive to cash out immediately.  If there are overwhelming signs of an absolute market crash, Satoshi is the one who can solidify it. 

[RodeoX]

Nice work Molecular!

Although, it is also possible Satoshi owns no bitcoins.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations


Any questions?

[molecular]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations


Any questions?

Yes: what does this have to do with the questions asked by OP?

[Trader Steve]

On my list of concerns, my worry over the personal assets of Satoshi is just slightly more important than what I'm going to make for dinner this evening.

If it does concern you, like the other poster said, go mine XICoin, for Satoshi probably has none of them! In fact, why don't all the communists get together and create Communacoin, they can ensure nobody has more than X% above anyone else, that the supply of them increase indefinitely (making everyone richer forever), that purchases will only be for "socially beneficial purposes," and all the evil, unfair free-market jerks won't get to own any at all!

In all seriousness, it would make no sense at all for Satoshi to step forward and disclose anything about himself. It is obscenely smart for him to have disappeared and here's hoping he lives out his days in peace, wealth, and comfort, reflecting upon the incredible invention he has bestowed upon mankind.

+1

[Trader Steve]

FWIW, I mined 10,000,000 ShitCoins before I took it public.

It never caught on

LOL

[Phinnaeus Gage]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations


Any questions?

Yes: what does this have to do with the questions asked by OP?

In was in response to several comments to the OP addressing early adopters. My point being that every worthwhile endeavor has early adopters, all taking a risk, hoping it'll become profitable. You'll always have somebody wishing that they were on the ground floor before it went viral.

I stand behind my wiki posting.

[Ten98]

I'm amazed that something like Bitcoin can survive in the wild, totally open source without being hacked to peices. The guy is clearly an absolute genius in the field of cryptology and macro economics, I bet even he can't believe this shit actually worked though.

Much respect to him, and I'm sure he's far too clever to let Bitcoin die or do anything to negatively affect the value of the currency when he's holding over a million coins.

[Shortline]

I'm amazed that something like Bitcoin can survive in the wild, totally open source without being hacked to peices. The guy is clearly an absolute genius in the field of cryptology and macro economics, I bet even he can't believe this shit actually worked though.

Much respect to him, and I'm sure he's far too clever to let Bitcoin die or do anything to negatively affect the value of the currency when he's holding over a million coins.

Yeah, that bears remembering.

Kind of an aside here, but did any of you read the cryptography list discussions when he initially introduced the bitcoin protocol? Everyone was like "oh shit... neat... but how do you do X process?" and he was all like "just do it like this." Essentially he'd had the hard stuff done up, complete before he brought it to the public eye, which is very impressive. And his explanation? Something along the lines of "oh, it was just as easy to write the code to see if it would work than to prove it any other way..."

Anyway, who gives a fuck how much he/she/they own. I hate to be a downer here OP but this is newbie stuff that comes up over and over again. It's a bit boring.

[memvola]

In my opinion, anybody who thinks 'Satoshi' didn't create Bitcoin with the intention (at least, in part) of getting rich, I think you're fooling yourself.  It's clearly built into the structure. 

Yet we haven't witnessed an intense development effort for such novel systems before or since Bitcoin. There were many different plans for a distributed currency (e.g. a distributed anonymous version of ripple), but only by a handful of people. In my experience, you just can't and don't work on such stuff if you intend to get rich. He must have imagined gaining wealth as a consequence of his success, but the reason the structure is built this way is definitely about success of the currency. As a consequence, people who believed in it got to have more coins. Even so, there are many early adopters who (at least claim to) have very little coins left.

This is probably closer to reality:

I bet even he can't believe this shit actually worked though.

What surprised me about molecular's analysis though is the amount of coins that were never moved. I wonder if that is the usual trend, or it shows a different behavioral pattern for first comers. Has anybody made a "the number of coins that haven't moved since" graph?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I'm amazed that something like Bitcoin can survive in the wild, totally open source without being hacked to peices. The guy is clearly an absolute genius in the field of cryptology and macro economics, I bet even he can't believe this shit actually worked though.

Much respect to him, and I'm sure he's far too clever to let Bitcoin die or do anything to negatively affect the value of the currency when he's holding over a million coins.

Yeah, that bears remembering.

Kind of an aside here, but did any of you read the cryptography list discussions when he initially introduced the bitcoin protocol? Everyone was like "oh shit... neat... but how do you do X process?" and he was all like "just do it like this." Essentially he'd had the hard stuff done up, complete before he brought it to the public eye, which is very impressive. And his explanation? Something along the lines of "oh, it was just as easy to write the code to see if it would work than to prove it any other way..."

Anyway, who gives a fuck how much he/she/they own. I hate to be a downer here OP but this is newbie stuff that comes up over and over again. It's a bit boring.

I'm amazed that something like Bitcoin can survive in the wild, totally open source without being hacked to peices. The guy is clearly an absolute genius in the field of cryptology and macro economics, I bet even he can't believe this shit actually worked though.

Much respect to him, and I'm sure he's far too clever to let Bitcoin die or do anything to negatively affect the value of the currency when he's holding over a million coins.

+2 (for the post before the one I quoted)
+2 (for this post also) but like on Who's Line is it Anyway--The points don't matter.

I hate to be a downer here OP but this is newbie stuff that comes up over and over again. It's a bit boring.

If you visit the Newbie threads, you see a whole slew of them coming down the pike. A lot of them simply post, "Whitewash me! I have something very important to add to this or that conversation."

They can't wait to add their thoughts to the Bitcoin community.

[molecular]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations


Any questions?

Yes: what does this have to do with the questions asked by OP?

In was in response to several comments to the OP addressing early adopters. My point being that every worthwhile endeavor has early adopters, all taking a risk, hoping it'll become profitable. You'll always have somebody wishing that they were on the ground floor before it went viral.

I stand behind my wiki posting.

Thanks for clearing that up. And I have to agree with you.

[molecular]

Even so, there are many early adopters who (at least claim to) have very little coins left.

Hehe. For some early adopters, "very little" might still be in the thousands, though.

I can understand some of them cashed in too early, though. Imagine you're a little short on cash and the bitcoin value just shot up 400% to USD 0.80!! I'd be tempted to sell, myself. I've been having a hard time holding on to my little stash myself at times.

This just emphasizes the point that being an early adopter, an being it successfully (holding on to the bitcoins), is not so easy, and these people can be envied, but it's not unfair in any way. We all had the same chance. Of course some luck was involved, too, but that's almost always the case. So don't bash the early adopters, they're the ones that got the stone rolling in the first place. Like someone once elaborated on in a TED talk: it's not the leader/inventor that is the most crucial person to the success of something, it's the first follower (showing a video of a guy standing up and starting to dance pertty stupidly, then another one following, then more people successively, until everybody dances). He argues that without the first follower, there wouldn't have been a party, and the leader would've looked like an idiot. I think it's true.

[molecular]

Nice work Molecular!

Although, it is also possible Satoshi owns no bitcoins.

True. My finding was, that the very early adopters did not sell out.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Even so, there are many early adopters who (at least claim to) have very little coins left.

Hehe. For some early adopters, "very little" might still be in the thousands, though.

I can understand some of them cashed in too early, though. Imagine you're a little short on cash and the bitcoin value just shot up 400% to USD 0.80!! I'd be tempted to sell, myself. I've been having a hard time holding on to my little stash myself at times.

This just emphasizes the point that being an early adopter, an being it successfully (holding on to the bitcoins), is not so easy, and these people can be envied, but it's not unfair in any way. We all had the same chance. Of course some luck was involved, too, but that's almost always the case. So don't bash the early adopters, they're the ones that got the stone rolling in the first place. Like someone once elaborated on in a TED talk: it's not the leader/inventor that is the most crucial person to the success of something, it's the first follower (showing a video of a guy standing up and starting to dance pertty stupidly, then another one following, then more people successively, until everybody dances). He argues that without the first follower, there wouldn't have been a party, and the leader would've looked like an idiot. I think it's true.

+1,000

http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html    WATCH THIS VIDEO--ONLY 3 MINUTES LONG


I saw that video a couple months ago, so knew where to look.

Excellent post!


Here's what I propose. The next time another thread like this gets started, simply post the link to this video and kindly request to lock the thread, for the subject will be closed. If the OP of the new thread doesn't get it, he should receive 500 lashes with a wet noodle by (insert your favorite board member here).


http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html


Speaking of Ted.com, what are the chances of having Bitcoin's main spokesperson give a talk at TED about Bitcoin early next year? Seems to me to be a perfect fit.

[newminerr]

I'm amazed that something like Bitcoin can survive in the wild, totally open source without being hacked to peices. The guy is clearly an absolute genius in the field of cryptology and macro economics, I bet even he can't believe this shit actually worked though.

Much respect to him, and I'm sure he's far too clever to let Bitcoin die or do anything to negatively affect the value of the currency when he's holding over a million coins.

+1

considering his genius design and superb execution, Satoshi deserves at least 3 million btc

+1

True. My finding was, that the very early adopters did not sell out.

Why wouldn't they sell their BTC, when they had a good chance to do that? [$20 per BTC]

[Shortline]

Here's what I propose. The next time another thread like this gets started, simply post the link to this video and kindly request to lock the thread, for the subject will be closed. If the OP of the new thread doesn't get it, he should receive 500 lashes with a wet noodle by (insert your favorite board member here).

 You never know, some day new information might come up. There's totally some good stuff in this very thread. We can't just reject stuff out-of-hand like that.

[molecular]

+1,000

http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html    WATCH THIS VIDEO--ONLY 3 MINUTES LONG

Thank you so much for looking up the video!

Speaking of Ted.com, what are the chances of having Bitcoin's main spokesperson give a talk at TED about Bitcoin early next year? Seems to me to be a perfect fit.

Yeah, it's been suggested before that Gavin hold a TED talk. It was, if I remember correctly, concluded that it might still be too early. Maybe it's time now . It'd be quite a receptive audience, I think, that also tends to have some money (a big plus for us ^^)

Maybe Gavin (while I think he'd do a great job) is not the right guy for this one, though... there are a few other eloquent bitcoin people. Damn, if forum search was better I would try to find the post where someone made a list. Any suggestions?

[Zibbo]

I believe that vast numbers of Bitcoins were found and lost in the early days, because back then, people were mining just because Bitcoin was an interesting technology project. When they lost interest and quit mining, wallets were easily lost in OS reinstalls etc. because why would you bother backing up a bunch of funnymoney?

So I predict that a big portion of those early Bitcoins that have not been moved, will never ever be moved, because the wallets are just lost.