Bitcoin could've been created by the US government...Coincidence?

[Siren]

Well everything is possible specially in this anonymous and decentralized crypto world,and also we cannot take the credit to US whos always involved in secretly created job towards other countries so what else that they cannot do?but i wanted this not to be truth since the possibilities of being manipulated are indeed if the US are only making fool of us all for this more than 10years of bitcoin existence

[hulla]

I have been researching about who could've created Bitcoin in the first place, and it came to my mind that the US government would've created the digital currency in the first place. The reason I say this, is because Bitcoin uses the NSA's cryptographic hashing algorithm known as SHA-256. Not to mention, Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is nowhere to be found after a decade of the cryptocurrency's inception. This means, that if Satoshi was an ordinary person instead of a government agent, he would've been found by now (even experts have been careless sometimes).

One coincidence is the Bitcoin logo/symbol which greatly resembles that of the US Dollar. Upon surfing the web, I've found an NSA article from 1996 which is very similar to Bitcoin's electronic cash vision in its whitepaper. The article speaks about Multiple Spending (which is Double-Spending on the BTC whitepaper), and other subjects about divisibility, etc. You can read all about it here: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/money/nsamint/nsamint.htm

If Bitcoin was truly created by the US government as an experiment, then it could be the doom of crypto and blockchain tech as we know it. The government could easily hit the "kill switch" if it owns "Satoshi's" private keys, resulting in a massive crash of Bitcoin and other crypto's price.

Here's another article related to the subject: https://www.ccn.com/4-reasons-to-believe-the-deep-state-or-the-nsa-created-bitcoin

This may sound crazy, but we shouldn't discard all the possibilities of who would've created Bitcoin in the first place. Nonetheless, what are your thoughts about this?

What you said doesn't sound crazy and something which a lot of people around the world talked about acouple of months ago and because the US government didn't destroy Bitcoin before it clinch $1 per coin doesn't proof them as the rightful creator of bitcoin. Besides, US government are intelligent, they understand the value of innovative technology and they like making right choice even when they will be affected.
Nevertheless, one of the statement made by Theymos make understand that Satoshi actually extract and combine ideas from different set  of communities with his own research to create Bitcoin. Although, the chance that Satoshi will be former CIA,USSS, NSA etc just like XRP boss are high.

[KingScorpio]

there are people that profit and those who dont profit from bitcoin in the us government as everywhere else in the world, entire speculation is pointless

[suzanne5223]

there are people that profit and those who dont profit from bitcoin in the us government as everywhere else in the world, entire speculation is pointless

we still don't know Satoshi is. So,I won't say speculation is pointless if i were you because all the people that claimed to be Satoshi doesnt have the skills to him and a lot of crypto community members believed the NSA could be the real Satoshi. Until we know the real Satoshi every speculation are not pointless.

[figmentofmyass]

As for the US government creating Bitcoin, if it's true, then there's the risk that Bitcoin's price would fall massively (as a result of the government selling "Satoshi's" Bitcoins). While this won't affect the technology whatsoever, it will affect Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at a large scale (in terms of price and confidence from people in the mainstream world). Only then, governments will be able to introduce their own digital currency successfully for the whole world to use.

only then---why? you think crushing confidence in cryptocurrencies will make people want to use govcoin?

i'm also not convinced that dumping the satoshi coins on the market would destroy confidence in bitcoin. it would take a long time and lots of demand to absorb all that supply, but it doesn't seem impossible, especially as adoption continues to grow and grow. think of it like bearwhale, squared.

no matter what, we need to be prepared for the satoshi coins to be dumped someday. quantum computers are gonna break those public keys eventually.

[pixie85]

This means, that if Satoshi was an ordinary person instead of a government agent, he would've been found by now (even experts have been careless sometimes).

You're wrong about that. Ross was found only because he had a routine where he went to the same place every day at the same time and worked on his site. Satoshi was online when nobody cared and nobody was looking for him. Bitcoin was worthless at the time. When he disappeared it took months if not years before agencies and governments became involved.
What if he died in one of the big disasters like the Philippines typhoon?

[susila_bai]

As for the US government creating Bitcoin, if it's true, then there's the risk that Bitcoin's price would fall massively (as a result of the government selling "Satoshi's" Bitcoins). While this won't affect the technology whatsoever, it will affect Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at a large scale (in terms of price and confidence from people in the mainstream world). Only then, governments will be able to introduce their own digital currency successfully for the whole world to use.

only then---why? you think crushing confidence in cryptocurrencies will make people want to use govcoin?

i'm also not convinced that dumping the satoshi coins on the market would destroy confidence in bitcoin. it would take a long time and lots of demand to absorb all that supply, but it doesn't seem impossible, especially as adoption continues to grow and grow. think of it like bearwhale, squared.

no matter what, we need to be prepared for the satoshi coins to be dumped someday. quantum computers are gonna break those public keys eventually.

I think what you are telling is not true as the main success behind BTC is that the owner is not their so that the coins holded cannot be dumped and the project cannot be changed. But if sathosi is reveal and he proves that he is holding the private key of the wallets where lot of bitcoins are stored then i think the market can crash and the price will be dumped to zero or very low price like 100 or even 10$ also.

So i think until the private keys of the sathosi wallet are not reveal bitcoin price is safe.

[clover12]

I remember, years ago, I think it was Dr. Ron Paul who said some omnious thing about how to fix the economy would be "having a new coin....". In the discussion he was talking about gold being the safest bet, but the way he mentioned "a new coin" made me think back about that statement. He was possibly in the know.

[qwertyup23]

Regardless on who created bitcoin, we cannot change the fact that it revolutionized the transaction of payments by eliminating the need for a peer-to-peer transaction while maintaining security over it. Assuming that the government DID create bitcoin and they have reserves/supply that can potentially decrease its value significantly, people would just shift to another cryptocurrency. In addition, if this was just an experiment, then they have successfully creating a platform to jump from fiat to a digitalized payment; which everyone will benefit in the long-run.

Like what most people already said, they value the technology behind the coin (which is the blockchain). It just so happens that it contained an opportunity for investment due to its volatility and decentralized nature.

[figmentofmyass]

i'm also not convinced that dumping the satoshi coins on the market would destroy confidence in bitcoin. it would take a long time and lots of demand to absorb all that supply, but it doesn't seem impossible, especially as adoption continues to grow and grow. think of it like bearwhale, squared.

no matter what, we need to be prepared for the satoshi coins to be dumped someday. quantum computers are gonna break those public keys eventually.

I think what you are telling is not true as the main success behind BTC is that the owner is not their so that the coins holded cannot be dumped and the project cannot be changed.

here's some necessary reading for you: https://medium.com/@nopara73/stealing-satoshis-bitcoins-cc4d57919a2b

it breaks down in simple terms how QC will allow many of the early satoshi coins to be stolen. brace yourself!

satoshi's disappearance is a strength that other cryptocurrencies don't have, but it's not bitcoin's main success. bitcoin bootstrapped itself from nothing and is well on its way to mass adoption, just on the basis of economic incentives! that's its main success.

[talkbitcoin]

yes, it could have. it also could have been created by aliens from outer space. but it did not. instead bitcoin was created by some visionary person who was sick and  tired of centralization, corruption and tyranny of the banks controlling the economy and driving it to the ground every time so he created an alternative way for people to escape their control and have their own decentralized system that they could not control.

[ozonboss]

This is very similar to the truth. Look at the coin Grin. It develops very quickly with very good results. But. What is the profit for the coin makers? There was no Premine. It seems that the creators of this coin do not need money. Either they are already billionaires for a long time, or is it some kind of state-controlled service, or they are driven by another desire — for example, to manage a significant cryptocurrency asset.
You can draw an analogy with Bitcoin.

[qualitywork]

Sometimes people come with different thoughts, when Bitcoin was launched the name we came to know was Satoshi nakamoto then how come US is involved in this? No one was suppose to invest unless it went over the moon in 2017 and now why such question occur.

[Autumn_Rain]

Yeah, there've been such thoughts described already

[Pab]

It is popular conspiracy theory but just a theory
Bitcoin was not created by any government
rather it could be created by China because majority of miners are  from China but it is next theory
we don't know who was Satoshi Nakamoto
I rather think that is a group .Bitcoin born was not only programming but also marketing knowledge and very good knowledge about how financing world works
Bitcoin born had very good timing also

[ozonboss]

Bitcoin was not created by any government
rather it could be created by China because majority of miners are  from China...

Most miners from China because:

1. Cheap and affordable equipment
2. Cheap electricity
3. The overall low level of financial profitability of the population
4. The most populated country on the planet

And not because Bitcoin was created in China.

[Mometaskers]

I can't say much about the tech, I'm more a casual observer but what would the US government's intention be in making it then? So make it, keep the Satoshi coins, the dump it and crash the cryptomarket? Then they wouldn't get much out of it.

IMHO, if they've had a hand in it, then the situation would be like the internet, which they started as an experiment and basically took on a life of its own.

[blockman]

I remember, years ago, I think it was Dr. Ron Paul who said some omnious thing about how to fix the economy would be "having a new coin....". In the discussion he was talking about gold being the safest bet, but the way he mentioned "a new coin" made me think back about that statement. He was possibly in the know.

Do you remember where you have heard that? is there a video or an article related to this?

I'm interested to know about his statement. I've searched about him but too many results and can't check it one by one.

[Abiky]

Regardless on who created bitcoin, we cannot change the fact that it revolutionized the transaction of payments by eliminating the need for a peer-to-peer transaction while maintaining security over it. Assuming that the government DID create bitcoin and they have reserves/supply that can potentially decrease its value significantly, people would just shift to another cryptocurrency. In addition, if this was just an experiment, then they have successfully creating a platform to jump from fiat to a digitalized payment; which everyone will benefit in the long-run.

Like what most people already said, they value the technology behind the coin (which is the blockchain). It just so happens that it contained an opportunity for investment due to its volatility and decentralized nature.

Yes, that's true. What's important is that the technology is still there and open to anyone willing to improve it. The fact that Bitcoin was released as an open source cryptocurrency, makes it virtually "immortal" as it replicates itself as different cryptocurrencies. If the US created Bitcoin, and has the power to harm its price, then there's always plan B (another cryptocurrency). Given how big Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have grown today since launch, they're practically unstoppable.

The focus/attention of Bitcoin is not its brand/recognition within the mainstream world, but rather its technology called the Blockchain. Whoever invented this, must've been a genius as Blockchain technology is the missing piece of the puzzle to allow people to be their own banks without middleman.

Who knows? Perhaps "Satoshi" is still alive out there watching Bitcoin as it grows like a son of his/her own. If we haven't heard about him/her today, it could be that he's/she’s afraid from being caught by the government (if Bitcoin wasn't created by a government agent after all).

Nonetheless, it's something of a coincidence that NSA's article of 1996 resembles many of the things described in the original Bitcoin whitepaper. Perhaps "Satoshi" worked for them, or he/she based him/herself on this to create a better version of Peer-to-peer electronic cash.

[cellard]

Satoshi used SHA-256 because it was the most widely known algorithm because it was and still is the most used one. At some point you have to take into consideration what's safer: Something that isn't used by X government because it's newer, or something that is used by some government but it's widely known to never have been cracked? I think satoshi did the right thing, rather than gambling with more exotic options, he took the conservative approach.

If there was a backdoor in SHA-256 we would have known by now I think. There's too much stuff out there that uses SHA-256 with big prizes for those that crack it besides Bitcoin, it has never happened, probably never will or at least we will not see it on our lifetimes.