What is this fascination with claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto?

[alastantiger]

Why are these people obsessed with being identified as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin? In 2019 this website reported a list of self-proclaimed bitcoin founder;

• Ronald Keala Kua Maria
• Pakastani Bilal Khalid and his PR firm Ivy McLemore  
• Debo Jurgen Etienne Guido
• Jörg Molt
• Craig Wright
• Paul Calder Le Roux

There are more who have claimed to be Satoshi but why? Why do they want to be Satoshi so bad they look stupid to the public with all their self proclamation. In fact there are so many dangers in being Satoshi because he would be the center of every backlash, investigations, arrest warrants, and what have you. And besides, it would make no difference because he, Satoshi technically would have no say on how the bitcoin network should or should not run based on the consensus. Which other faketoshis do you know? And have you ever taken any of them seriously?

[coolcoinz]

You might not remember how years ago everybody googled Dorian Nakamoto, but one of the reasons for every scammer claiming to be Satoshi is exactly that - popularity.
Dorian wasn't a scammer, but his case showed these people how you can use people's curiosity. After all, we'd all want to know who Satoshi was.

Have you noticed that whenever someone claims to be Satoshi, the press writes about it? You can be John Doe from Farmerville claiming to be the founder of Bitcoin and suddenly you're on Coindesk, CNBC, and so on... If you're notorious like Craig, you're going to be on Forbes, Wall Street Journal and invited to TV interviews.
It allows these people to make money because their social media get hits, projects that list them as founders or advisors amass more followers, they can promote all the scams they want because they have a popular name that comes up when you perform google searches.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Why are these people obsessed with being identified as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin? In 2019 this website reported a list of self-proclaimed bitcoin founder;

Do you think this are the only ones that have been on this together, there are many more we cannot even know or have the opportunity of hearing about their own story, have you even considered some few members from this forum as well claiming they are Satoshi as well, almost all of them were no more active now as before, do you also think that we are more concerned about Satoshi than the bitcoin itself, as long as the work he had made remains ever relevant, everyone knowing this should be more concerned about bitcoin and not about those claiming they are Satoshi because you can have a list of upto hundreds of them.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

They do this not only to become famous but mainly to have better chances to scam other people. By making noise and get attention of many people, they can become influencers, try to cooperate with scam projects and run scam fund raising, steal money from many victims.

Being famous by claiming as Satoshi Nakamoto is only a very small part and small reason why they want to take spotlight. They are financial incentivized to do those invalid claiming even they know they will fail. But by making noise, it's already enough for them because they think with noise, they will open some new gates for their career in blockchain community.

[mk4]

It's mostly just the fact that they have the financial incentive to do so — from running a fork and attempting to beat the 'main' fork(Craig Wright), to getting news headlines with their name with it(some of the dudes in the list). Unless the person is insane, it simply just doesn't make any sense to try to claim to be Satoshi without any financial incentive due to the risks(the government might suicide you).

[Odohu]

It is all about attention seeking with the intention to defraud people. There is a saying that "bad publicity is better than no publicity", so, I guess that is what most of them are doing... just to make headlines even though they know people will find out they are fraud.

In this age of social media, some people intentionally get involved in something amoral and terrible just because they want to make headlines... so I'm not surprised we now have many imposters claiming to be Satoshi. 

[Mbitr]

Here’s a pretty comprehensive list of faketoshis compiled by forum member xtraelv 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5243791.0

Hasn’t been updated for a while and interestingly there haven’t been any recent claimants to be satoshi for a while ??
I used to thoroughly enjoy proving them wrong 

[franky1]

why? money obviously
if they can create enough drama with the hope to become famous, they then want to go on convention/speaking paid tours, sell a book or movie rights, or even try to do SLAPP(frivolous) lawsuits to scam money out of those who fall into court drama traps

some people would sell their soul, reputation and morals if it could make them rich

the funny part is they waste so much time on the drama of convincing idiots. that they are not using their time to actually accumulate bitcoin(wealth)

[RocketSingh]

• Ronald Keala Kua Maria
• Pakastani Bilal Khalid and his PR firm Ivy McLemore  
• Debo Jurgen Etienne Guido
• Jörg Molt
• Craig Wright
• Paul Calder Le Roux

Most in this list have already been outed as scammer... No?

[Mbitr]

• Ronald Keala Kua Maria
• Pakastani Bilal Khalid and his PR firm Ivy McLemore  
• Debo Jurgen Etienne Guido
• Jörg Molt
• Craig Wright
• Paul Calder Le Roux

Most in this list have already been outed as scammer... No?

Yep - only CSW hanging on to his delusions

[Davidvictorson]

the funny part is they waste so much time on the drama of convincing idiots. that they are not using their time to actually accumulate bitcoin(wealth)

For me, I think that these individuals already have accumulate so much bitcoin. Bitcoin is decentralized and not one person can rise up to say they are the founder and would be taken seriously. They want the money, the fame, the accolades and the donations. They can't have it.

They all have one thing in common a mental illness called Delusions of grandeur.

Patients with delusions of grandeur believe that they are wonderful, successful, more important than others, or even miraculous. They make assumptions that they have exceptional talents, possessions, or powers despite lack of evidence supporting these beliefs.
https://www.medicinenet.com/what_is_a_delusion_of_grandeur/article.htm

[Sophokles]

Why are these people obsessed with being identified as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin? In 2019 this website reported a list of self-proclaimed bitcoin founder;

To get media attention i guess. This will make them attractive marketing figures for media and news channels and new startup. Just imagine satoshi nakamoto(fake one who claims to be the original) is promoting a new altcoin or startup crypto project. Those project will get media attention and investors due to satoshis fame. 

There is nominal chance that original satoshi will reemerge from the ghost so i assume he is dead or has no interest in going public.

[pixie85]

If you go through what CSW has done you'll know what incentive these people have.

CSW became famous for trying to prove he's Satoshi and failing but his name became known even though it was infamous.
He then proceeded to make his own shitcoin and run a smear campaign and hash attack on the original bitcoin with the help of his friend Calvin.

It's all about the money.

[coupable]

Since the real Satoshi Nakamoto is hidden, and since it is not certain whether Satoshi is the name of a single person or a nickname for a group of people who may have come together to create Bitcoin, the idea of Satoshi Nakamoto will remain a means that anyone can use by claiming to be him to gain public attention. Fortunately, the Bitcoin protocol allows messages to be signed using the private key, so it is easy to prove the falsity of their claims, since no one among them or anyone else was able to sign a message from one of the addresses proven to be owned by Satoshi.

• Ronald Keala Kua Maria
• Pakastani Bilal Khalid and his PR firm Ivy McLemore  
• Debo Jurgen Etienne Guido
• Jörg Molt
• Craig Wright
• Paul Calder Le Roux

I think it is also possible to add Elon Musk to the list, since doubts were also swirling around him before it was confirmed that this was not true: Elon Musk Probably Invented Bitcoin

[Die_empty]

Why are these people obsessed with being identified as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin? In 2019 this website reported a list of self-proclaimed bitcoin founder;

• Ronald Keala Kua Maria
• Pakastani Bilal Khalid and his PR firm Ivy McLemore  
• Debo Jurgen Etienne Guido
• Jörg Molt
• Craig Wright
• Paul Calder Le Roux

There are more who have claimed to be Satoshi but why? Why do they want to be Satoshi so bad they look stupid to the public with all their self proclamation. In fact there are so many dangers in being Satoshi because he would be the center of every backlash, investigations, arrest warrants, and what have you. And besides, it would make no difference because he, Satoshi technically would have no say on how the bitcoin network should or should not run based on the consensus. Which other faketoshis do you know? And have you ever taken any of them seriously?

Money should be the reason for these claims. They want to get attention so that they can become famous. After that, they simply monetize the fame by either founding a shitcoin, publishing a book, giving speeches and lectures, and sometimes getting funds from anti-bitcoin forces to attack the industry. I have read stories about some of them but I stopped giving them any attention because it is clear they are big-time liars. Charles Hoskinson claimed that he was Satoshi and when he saw that he had no proof he made a U-turn and said that he thinks Satoshi is Adam Back. Craig Wright is not yet tired of disgracing himself by his childish claims.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

People love to appear bigger than they are.
And often enough, people seek attention, there are many in this forum as well, haha.

But yeah, it's about attention, recognition and as a result of that, money.

People do everything to gain these things, even if it means to spread ridiculous lies about themselves. Some never have achieved anything in their life so they try to be somebody they never would. It's kinda sad.

[Upgrade00]

Most in this list have already been outed as scammer... No?

Yep - only CSW hanging on to his delusions

CSW has been proven to be a scammer in several occasions, he's just too buried deep into his own webs that he can't find which way is up.

[AmoreJaz]

Most in this list have already been outed as scammer... No?

Yep - only CSW hanging on to his delusions

CSW has been proven to be a scammer in several occasions, he's just too buried deep into his own webs that he can't find which way is up.

i don't know when he will stop about his delusions. maybe, when he finally checked in with a real psychiatrist and learn to accept the reality.lol
anyway, we may not know the real identity of satoshi in our lifetime. but it may be uncovered in the future. who knows?

[Smartvirus]

Most in this list have already been outed as scammer... No?

Yep - only CSW hanging on to his delusions

CSW has been proven to be a scammer in several occasions, he's just too buried deep into his own webs that he can't find which way is up.

You could say that again.
And CSW remains the one person that stands out with an unwavering claim due to the many lawsuits he’s got to file in trying to assert his claims and a few takes him serious for the fear of not having to go to court.

I for one feel there has been only one major reason in being Satoshi Nakamoto and that would be just for the game that comes with having to be the pioneer of a whole new means to how we handle finance. To possibly immortalize oneself in the creation that would go through generations but, how shameful it would be even in death to know at the back of your decayed heart that, it was just a claim.

Well, it doesn’t matter as bitcoin functions based on the consensus of it’s users.

[NeilLostBitCoin]

Claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto guarantees attention, even if debunked.

In my opinion, those who claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto know the dangers of such a claim. They know that investigations and arrest warrants will not be taken seriously since they can't prove their claim.