Alleged Bitcoin Founder Craig Wright Fails To Prove He Is Satoshi Nakamoto
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Australian Craig Wright surprised the global Bitcoin community on May 2nd when he claimed that he was the real Satoshi Nakamoto, the man responsible for creating Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto was a virtual alias used by the Bitcoin creator over the years to protect his real identity and had been a puzzle that reporters have tried for a number of years to solve.
Wright who works as an IT consultant decided to share his story with the BBC, GQ magazine, the Economist and also share a write up on his blog. The media outlets state that he provided them a chunk of the original Bitcoin code which made them believe that Wright’s claims were indeed true as only the creator of Bitcoin could have had access to such code.
While many believed Wright, there were some who were sceptical about his claims including Cornell University computer science professor Emin Gun Sirer. The professor had co-authored a paper on the Bitcoin system, a paper that Wright attacked on his blog during 2013. Professor Gun Sirer stated that the attack on the paper showed him that Wright never really understood what the paper was all about, something that the true Bitcoin founder would have had no problem grasping.
Wright was supposed to provide more proof this week to clear all doubts that he was indeed Satoshi Nakamoto. However Wright surprised everyone yet again by deciding not to provide any proof and went on to delete all his blog posts.
In a statement, Wright said “I believed that I could do this. I believed that I could put the years of anonymity and hiding behind me. But, as the events of this week unfolded and I prepared to publish the proof of access to the earliest keys, I broke. I do not have the courage.”
The sudden u-turn by Wright and his decision not to provide proof as promised has caused more people to doubt the veracity of his original claim. Rory Cellan-Jones, a technology correspondent for the BBC said that people will now question all of Wright’s claims.
Jerry Brito, the executive director of Coin Center, a digital currency advocacy group stated that there will continue to be rumours that Craig Wright is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto. However those rumours will only be rumours as Wright provided no cryptographic evidence that the public could verify. Given the fact that Wright backed out of his promise to provide proof, some of his earlier statements also appear to be suspicious.
The cryptocurrency markets were cautious this week as many believed that the Wright would end up dumping huge amounts of Bitcoins and bring down the price. However that wasn’t to be and the price stood firm at around $447 per coin.
Wright went on to say in his blog post that he knew his recent actions would also tarnish the reputation of those who supported his claim of being Satoshi Nakamoto and apologized to them.
Photo credit: BBC
