[2014-08-16] The Man Who Really Built Bitcoin

[erono]

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/527051/the-man-who-really-built-bitcoin/

In March, a bewildered retired man faced journalists yelling questions about virtual currency outside his suburban home in Temple City, California. Dorian Nakamoto, 64, had been identified by Newsweek as the person who masterminded Bitcoin—a story that, like previous attempts to unmask its pseudonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, was soon discredited. Meanwhile, the person arguably most responsible for enabling the currency to swell in value to $7.7 billion, and with the most influence on its future, was hiding in plain sight on the other side of the country, in Amherst, Massachusetts.

[TraderTimm]

There's a BIG difference between "build" and "refactoring" when it comes to development.

The article makes it sound like Gavin could've written the entire thing by himself, but that isn't the case - if it were, we'd be calling the smallest unit of Bitcoin the "Gavin" instead of "satoshi". Lots of projects have maintainers and such the improve existing code and make changes, that doesn't diminish the foresight and brilliance of those that came before them.

It just annoys me when some journalist tries to rewrite history to make their subject look good, without honoring the actual record. In any case, Gavin is no longer the primary core developer in the project, that position was ceded earlier this year in April. I'm sure he still contributes, (ie., using the inverted bloom filter idea to improve transaction speeds), but he isn't the SOLE developer doing so.

[dudexer]

Media needs some fake man so they can sell. Their main job to create uncertainty.

[bryant.coleman]

I don't believe that Gavin Anderson is Satoshi Nakamoto. But it seems possible that Gavin knew Satoshi in person. And we should not overlook Gavin's contributions to the Bitcoin sector.