what proof must one have to identify himself as Nakamoto Satoshi?

[Obito]

Real Satoshi won't reveal his/her/their identity, especially knowing how identity-based hate could be used to harm Bitcoin reputation and possibility harmed by authoritarian government.

But that's not the point if this discussion, you didn't thought that this is all just hypothetical? Yes, you're right and you've got a point as to why Satoshi won't go public but it's not the point.

To me, I think that the only proof that Satoshi could identify himself is probably doing a signed message on his address, or logging in his forum account or logging in the Bitcointalk forum prototype (forgot the name of predecessor).

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[Kasabus]

Real Satoshi won't reveal his/her/their identity, especially knowing how identity-based hate could be used to harm Bitcoin reputation and possibility harmed by authoritarian government.

But that's not the point if this discussion, you didn't thought that this is all just hypothetical? Yes, you're right and you've got a point as to why Satoshi won't go public but it's not the point.

To me, I think that the only proof that Satoshi could identify himself is probably doing a signed message on his address, or logging in his forum account or logging in the Bitcointalk forum prototype (forgot the name of predecessor).

Right. If he can leave a signed message  on his address, then it may be a proof of a real Satoshi. His own bitcoin forum account has been hacked already so there's no way he can access that anymore. If he can be the real Satoshi, i think he will do such a thing that we never thought of thinking and its only him who knows that.

However, i'm not really expecting that he'll show off one of these days because its better to make him anonymous for good than to make him known and confuse the whole crypto market.

[The Cryptovator]

To be honest, most likely Satoshi can't prove himself as a Bitcoin creator. I would be convinced if he signed a message from his Bitcoin address. But the community will still raise questions about either private keys held by Satoshi or by his next generation. It's become quite a complicated process since no one saw him ever. It's easy to prove ownership of the private key, but can't prove as a creator. It's not hard only, but also impossible IMO if the community refuses. What will do the community if sign a message after 100 years from Satoshi's address? Does it prove that the message signer is Satoshi Nakamoto?

[xml]

The more evidences, the more confidence of Satoshi idenditity proof, e.g. sending transaction from his addresses (12cbQLTFMXRnSzktFkuoG3eHoMeFtpTu3S, 1NS17iag9jJgTHD1VXjvLCEnZuQ3rJED9L and so on) or signing a message with the corresponding keys combined with evidence of his English and C++ programming skills. Others may include:
- clarification of his vague explanation of the choice of 21 million BTC cap,
- explanation of his reasons for staying anonymous,
- confirmation by peer-reviewers (of source code and whitepaper),
- confirmation by witnesses who knew about him working on Bitcoin,
- materials created during his research on Bitcoin,
- release of the Bitcoin source code versions previous to the first published ones (and links to source code fragments that were copied or stripped down, e.g. poker bot),
- evidences of bitcoin.org domain registration,
- evidences of setting up the bitcoin.org website,
- publishing his correspondence,
- explanation of origin of his nick if not random,
- hand-written notes about Bitcoin,
- revealing unknown facts that could be verified.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

If you're truly Satoshi or anybody claiming to be, then it shouldn't be a thing of threat or an hacullian task to het yourself verified being the Satoshi and there are many ways to achieve this, you must posses the said amount of bitcoin Satoshi is believed to have in possession, prove the ownership and access to the wallet address that has the bitcoin and lastly sign a message with that same address, you don't have to struggle in performing those task being the Satoshi because that's what we know to be in your capacity to do, but know this that Satoshi will always present himself with all integrity he's deserving by being reserved and away from all these.

[Blawpaw]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

The only way Satoshi has to reveal his identity is through his technology itself. REMEMBER: NOT YOUR KEYS, NOT YOUR COINS. Satoshi along with other early adopters is said to have millions of bitcoins stashed on specific wallets. So, if he signs a transaction from one of his addresses he proves he really is Satoshi Nakamoto. One of the genesis block that is said to be his, is this one: 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa. You can read more about it here.

[Viscore]

Attempting to prove identity is itself shady to me.
Because why did Satoshi go away in first place to want to come back now and need to prove his (her, their) identity. And why prove his identity in first place? If he wanted to do anything like contribute to Bitcoin he could do that under any identity he wanted. Maybe he is already creating pull requests and reviewing changes in Bitcoin!
Only those who are set to gain something would want to prove something. There is nothing to be gained for Satoshi to prove his identity. Only losses, loss of privacy, maybe even security as his life may be in danger, etc.

This has a point. If he is the real Satoshi, I don't think he will bother to prove himself that he is the real one. After all, Satoshi doesn't need any spotlight or acknowledgement, all he aimed was just to help us by giving us the freedom from the banks and be our own bank. Otherwise, if he is not the real Satoshi and would want to steal the reputation of Satoshi, for sure proving himself to the people might only be his focus.

[BitcoinPanther]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

The only way Satoshi has to reveal his identity is through his technology itself. REMEMBER: NOT YOUR KEYS, NOT YOUR COINS. Satoshi along with other early adopters is said to have millions of bitcoins stashed on specific wallets. So, if he signs a transaction from one of his addresses he proves he really is Satoshi Nakamoto. One of the genesis block that is said to be his, is this one: 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa. You can read more about it here.

There are still flaws, I agree with the posts that proving ownership doesn't prove the identity.  One good example is cited by BlackHatCoiner and supported by Wind_FURY posts.  Besides, if you are the real satoshi, you don't have to prove you really are Satoshi the more effort you made to prove yourself the more harder it is for the hesitant to believe.  Being oneself comes naturally and people will see the proof by themselves.

[blockman]

I guess we'll live on the belief that anyone who will try to prove himself as satoshi even with valid proof, won't be enough to make all of us believe.
Like what the others have pointed out earlier, it makes sense that if anyone has found out the private keys of satoshi or he has handed it to the one whom he's fully trusting, there will be a point in time when funds might be moved. Or like what wind fury said about Hal's fund and he's the true satoshi, that inheritance that his children, wife, or any relative will come to the point of time that they have to sell it.
But otherwise, until it's not moving, let's don't dig it anymore and I guess if satoshi is alive, he's liking more the situation that no one will ever know the true him/they.

[Gallar]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

I think finding Satoshi Nakamoto is very difficult, because Satoshi also doesn't want to show himself, surely it will be difficult to identify him.
and in my opinion satoshi must remain a secret, because if only satoshi divulged his identity, I'm afraid many people will target him, because surely behind the success of bitcoin, there must be those who don't like bitcoin.

[borovichok]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

Nakamoto Satoshi is one of the hidden identity of the world most transposed being. People have a strong belief that he's masculine but don't what he looks like. Many people have come out over the past years claiming to be Satoshi nakamoto but always failed the test. The owner of bitcoin is a team, and we all know that a team is not made up of one or two person but three to four. Cryptocurrency was invented in 2008 by unknown group of people who called themselves Satoshi nakamoto, so we can see that it's not only one man's name.

[Harriett]

I don't think this is a meaningful thing. The development of Bitcoin will not be affected by the presence or absence of Satoshi Nakamoto, so I think Satoshi Nakamoto himself is well aware of this.
As for the proof, it is completely unnecessary, because as long as you are Satoshi Nakamoto, there will be Satoshi Nakamoto's way to prove yourself.

[Wind_FURY]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

The only way Satoshi has to reveal his identity is through his technology itself. REMEMBER: NOT YOUR KEYS, NOT YOUR COINS. Satoshi along with other early adopters is said to have millions of bitcoins stashed on specific wallets. So, if he signs a transaction from one of his addresses he proves he really is Satoshi Nakamoto. One of the genesis block that is said to be his, is this one: 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa. You can read more about it here.

There are still flaws, I agree with the posts that proving ownership doesn't prove the identity.  One good example is cited by BlackHatCoiner and supported by Wind_FURY posts.  Besides, if you are the real satoshi, you don't have to prove you really are Satoshi the more effort you made to prove yourself the more harder it is for the hesitant to believe.  Being oneself comes naturally and people will see the proof by themselves.

It also gives an impossible situation for people like Craig Wright, but a very good one for Bitcoin. Because indeed if he does possess the keys, his claims to be the "Real Satoshi Nakamoto" would not be recognized by the community, the Core Developers, and anyone who isn't a Flat-Earther of Bitcoin. This holds true even if he WAS actually Satoshi, the inventor of Bitcoin. It is only right for Satoshi to be dead for the community.

[serveria.com]

There's a fair chance CIA, FBI and other "3 letter agencies" know who Satoshi is/was. It's also possible that he's dead. If we don't take this into account, significant proof would be something like moving coins from "Satoshi's wallet". But if Satoshi is alive and not cooperating with the government agencies there's very little chance he will expose himself by cashing out or moving his coins.

[tjtonmoy]

But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.

We are still not sure if Satoshi was a single person or a group of people who created the Bitcoin, and I have no explanation on how to point out the right person.
But we all know that Satoshi holds a certain amount of BTC. And as far as I know, we know in which wallet it's in. If someone can show me the correct amount and the raw data of BTC which is not an open source information but exists in BTC ecosystem. Then that could convince me at some degree.
But I don't want to know who he is. I am just glad that he/they made this for us. That's all that matters.

[lionheart78]

There's a fair chance CIA, FBI and other "3 letter agencies" know who Satoshi is/was. It's also possible that he's dead. If we don't take this into account, significant proof would be something like moving coins from "Satoshi's wallet". But if Satoshi is alive and not cooperating with the government agencies there's very little chance he will expose himself by cashing out or moving his coins.

I also think that Satoshi is dead (I hope I am wrong though)  since there is no way that the Bitcoin in his wallet will be untouched.  With all the increase in Bitcoin's price, there is no way Satoshi isn't tempted to move his coins unless he has extra addresses that hold another hundred thousand of BTC that is unknown to the public.

If something a person could do to prove his identity as satoshi is not desperately proving that he is the real satoshi.  Or even creating a Bitcoin beginners course[1] or paying someone just to cite he is the real satoshi.


[1] https://coingeek.com/bitcoin101/what-is-blockchain/

[wxa7115]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

At minimum he should sign a message from an address which is known that it belongs to him or move his coins to another address.

And I say this is the minimum necessary because there is always the possibility of someone getting access to his files and then trying to use this as evidence of being Satoshi while they would be just an impersonator, however I think it is safe to assume that Satoshi will never comeback, whether this is because he passed away already, he is afraid of being pursued by intelligence agencies or some other reason, this seems to be the best possible outcome for the market in general.

[nullama]

We always wonder who the real master mind behind the name of Nakamoto Satoshi the creator of bitcoin is.But what exactly would make you believe or convince you that "this" person is Satoshi if he/she ever decided to reveal himself.
There might be infinite wannabes and glory hunters wanting to rise to fame ,given the real Satoshi is one among them how would you go on about finding the right person.

Signing a message with the key to the genesis block, or other well known block mined by Satoshi would be strong evidence that the person might be Satoshi.

Of course it could be someone else that stole the key, but at least it's a start.

Anyone that just says so has zero credibility.

[Victorik]

What is the point of wanting to even know who the real Satoshi when it is obvious anyone can claim to be anybody these days. He should remain anonymous, that's good enough. For me, I would not believe if anyone comes out today with proof that he is Satoshi.

[Darker45]

If anybody claims he/she is Satoshi Nakamoto and wants to be taken more or less seriously, he/she doesn't have to go to great lengths just to make everybody else curious. He/she only has to sign a message and perhaps people would indeed become really interested. While having access to the purported private keys of Satoshi doesn't prove beyond doubt that the person behind the signature is the real Satoshi, it is definitely enough for everybody to get curious and raise probing questions.