The identity of the creator of Bitcoin (BTC) is the subject of endless (and deliberate) speculation. Candidatesa lot, but journalist GrahamSmith has prepared some interesting facts about Harold Thomas Finney II, better known simply as Hal. Many believe that it was he who was hiding under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto - this is indicated, albeit very indirectly, by the following facts.
Shifropunk and libertarian
Finney graduated from the world-famous California Institute of Technology in 1979. After working for several years in the field of computer game development, he became the second developer at PGP Corporation.
Hal was one of the first cipherpunk - he becamemember of the cipherpunk mailing list in the 90s, and also made a significant contribution to the development of cryptographic solutions that were aimed at preserving anonymity.
Among his achievements is the creation of the firstthe well-known anonymous remailer and reusable proofs of work (RPOW) in 2004. He also received the first ever bitcoin transaction directly from Satoshi.
These well-known facts are in themselves sufficientimpressive, but it's worth taking a closer look at a few other coincidences that could shed light on whether there's reason to believe Hal is Satoshi. To begin, here is a quote from Finney from the 1992 Cypherpunk mailing list:
«Here we are faced with the problems of lossprivacy, creeping computerization, huge databases, greater centralization - and Chaum proposes a completely different direction, one that gives power to individuals rather than governments and corporations. The computer can be used as a tool to liberate and protect people, rather than control.
As a cipher bank, Finney held libertarian and anarchist views on personal freedom. An analysis of Satoshi Nakamoto's letters and comments indicates that he was also a libertarian.
In a 2010 email to noted pizza lover Laszlo Haniecz, Nakamoto expresses concern that GPU mining is outperforming CPU mining:
«GPU will prematurely limit stimuli onlythose with powerful GPUs... I don't want to sound like a socialist, I don't care if the wealth is concentrated, but now we will get more growth by giving that money to 100% of the people rather than 20%.
Since libertarians are typically individualists, they oppose socialism, as Satoshi hints at.
Neighbor Nakamoto
Finney is known to have lived a few blocks froma man whose name is really Satoshi Nakamoto. In the small town of Temple City (California) lived Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, an American of Japanese descent. The media managed to track him down.
In a commentary for Newsweek, he made this comment:
“I’m no longer involved in this and can’t discuss it” and “the project has been transferred to other people.”
He later had to rebut the Newsweek article:
“I did not create, invent, or work on bitcoin. I want to refute the Newsweek article. ”
He explained that due to the previous terms of the contract for work, he did not have the right to talk about any past projects, and Newsweek reporters thought that he meant bitcoin.
Some speculate that Finney used the name Dorian to honor the humble California coder who had financial problems. In a statement, he also said:
“I couldn’t find a stable job as an engineer or programmer for ten years… I closed my internet service in 2013 due to serious financial problems.”
Bitcoin launch
Hal Finney was one of the first to showgenuine interest in the Satoshi Nakamoto project. He noted that “when Satoshi presented Bitcoin on the mailing list, he received at best a skeptical reception. Cryptographers saw him as too ambitious "noob." I was an optimist. ”
He, most likely, was also the first person (except Satoshi) who launched Bitcoin software. In January 2009, he wrote the first ever bitcoin tweet.
In one famous letter to Finny, Nakamoto writes:
“I just thought about this: in the end, there will be interest in scanning bitcoin addresses by exhaustive search to find one in which the first few characters are matched to your name, something like getting a phone number that contains certain information about the owner. Purely by chance I have my initials. "
The bitcoin address that Satoshi refers to in the message is his own - this is 1NSwywA5Dvuyw89sfs3oLPvLiDNGf48cPD (the first two letters are "NS").
In this comment, deep search loverssense pointed to a few interesting points. On the one hand, Japanese names are traditionally written first with a surname, so a guy known as Satoshi Nakamoto is called Nakamoto Satoshi (NS) in Japan.
However, based on impeccable EnglishNakamoto - not to mention a schedule of activity atypical for Japan - there are doubts as to why the "pro-Western" Bitcoin creator indicated the initials in the Japanese style. Although it is possible that choosing such a pseudonym for himself, the creator of Bitcoin was familiar with this aspect of Japanese culture.
However, on the other hand, initials can mean“Nick Sabo” is the name of another cypherpunk and creator of Bit Gold, with whom Hal also corresponded extensively. Although this theory points to Szabo and not Finney, some believe that the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto was hiding not just one person, but a group of developers.
Retirement
Hal Finney retired in early 2011. The last known correspondence of Satoshi Nakamoto is dated April 26, 2011. In a letter to developer Gavin Andresen, he writes:
“I would like you not to talk about me as abouta mysterious figure - the press will simply turn it into a pirate currency. Instead, talk about an open source project and pay tribute to your developers; it helps motivate them. ”
In response, Andresen told Satoshi that he was invited to speak at an event related to the CIA. Nakamoto replied to this letter.
Finney was very interested in cryonics. After death amid an exacerbation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, his body was cryonized by Alcor in Arizona. 17 days after he was diagnosed, he tweeted:
«Just got back from an 11 mile run - cherish every moment.».