Bitcoin is the leading cryptocurrency that disrupted the way we perceive money and its distribution. Everything changed with the release of Bitcoin whitepaper. The crypto and the entire system on which it was based was the brainchild of Satoshi Nakamoto, who decided to stay anonymous for some reason.
Now, a decade later, his (or her?) identity still remains unknown to the world. There have been several attempts at disclosing the identity of this individual, but no real progress has been made so far.
His name suddenly became a brand of sorts and we witnessed the creation of SatoshiDice — a kind of predecessor of bitcoin casino games. But even after that, the person chose to remain anonymous.
In other words, one person (or a group of people) is sitting on tons of money right now, and nobody knows who they are! However, there are some speculations about who this person might be.
Satoshi Is a Group
Many people on the web believe that the name Satoshi Nakamoto is used for a group of people who created Bitcoin together. Come to think of it, such a complex thing as a cryptocurrency supported by blockchain technology is very difficult to pull off — a single person could hardly do it.
The reason why this group decided to stay anonymous is not known, but we can guess. You see, the whole idea behind Bitcoin is that it is a decentralized system, with no central authority in power that would pull the strings. By remaining anonymous and giving their technology to the world, this group made a truly altruistic gesture.
Now, this is the only reasonable explanation, but it doesn’t answer our question of who Nakamoto actually is (or who they are). Everything you read below is just a wild guess that can be called a conspiracy theory as well, so please take everything you read with a grain of salt.
Satoshi Nakamoto Is AI
According to some conspiracy theorists, Satoshi Nakamoto is not a person at all, but rather a computer. It seems that this powerful form of Artificial Intelligence came up with a solution to fix the flaw that we were facing in the world of finance by introducing Bitcoin to us. Naturally, that would have to be very good-natured AI and not the evil type we see in dystopian science fiction movies.
Satoshi Nakamoto Is an Alien
An even crazier conspiracy theory is that Satoshi Nakamoto is an alien or some form of otherworldly being that gave us Bitcoin. The reason why some believe this is because Bitcoin somehow came at the right time of history when technology was good enough to be ready for blockchain implementation. Although blockchain technology existed for a couple of decades, Bitcoin popularized it and offered a convenient way to use it.
Satoshi Nakamoto Is an Outlaw
Finally, one of the theories that might as well make sense (unlike the two previous ones) is that Nakamoto is wanted by the authorities. According to this theory, he is probably one of those geniuses who hacked into big systems and stole valuable data, and that is why he chose to remain anonymous.
Satoshi Nakamoto Is a Celebrity
Some people believe that Nakamoto is a famous person — probably someone who has already had a lot of success in either the financial industry or IT. You can find various speculations on the web claiming that he is Bill Gates, Elon Musk, or someone else. However, it is highly unlikely that Nakamoto would hide his or her identity if they were a famous person — what would be the point of that?
Satoshi Nakamoto Is a Real Person
Finally, the most logical and straightforward assumption is that Satoshi Nakamoto is a person that exists and uses a pseudonym to remain anonymous. It is probably some genius from Japan who wanted to hide their identity for a reason we will probably never find out.
Conclusion
In the end, it is not Nakamoto’s identity that matters but their legacy that will become huge one day if the existing centralized world is disrupted with blockchain technology. A hundred years from now, we may have a very interesting paragraph in the history books that would go something like this:
“In 2008, an anonymous individual nicknamed Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin and popularized the use of blockchain. Thanks to that technology, our world is decentralized.”
At that point, blockchain would probably become common knowledge, just like electricity or airplanes are an inseparable part of our society today.
