Crypto glossary
Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, who published its whitepaper in 2008, launched the network in 2009 and then disappeared.
Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper on 31 October 2008 on a cryptography mailing list and mined the genesis block on 3 January 2009. Working with early contributors on forums and email, Satoshi wrote the first versions of the software and refined it until handing control of the code repository to other developers and stopping public communication around 2010 and 2011.
The real identity behind the name has never been proven. Journalists, documentaries and lawsuits have pointed to various cryptographers and programmers, and some people have claimed to be Satoshi without credible proof; a UK court ruled in 2024 that one such claimant was not the author. Analysts estimate that coins mined in Bitcoin's first year by a single entity, widely attributed to Satoshi, amount to around one million BTC that have never moved.
The only convincing proof of identity would be a signature with keys known to belong to Satoshi. The absence of a founder is often cited as part of what makes Bitcoin neutral.
Example
A message signed with the private key of the genesis block address would be widely accepted as proof that its author is Satoshi Nakamoto, something no claimant has provided.
Related terms
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