Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto has been officially nominated for a Nobel Prize The inventor of bitcoin has been nominated for the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics, despite no one knowing who the person actually is. The pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto is recognised as the creator of the cryptocurrency but various attempts to unmask Nakamoto’s identity have proved unsuccessful. Nakamoto’s nomination comes from UCLA Professor of Finance Bhagwan Chowdhry, who was invited by the Nobel Prize committee to nominate someone for the 2016 prize. The digital currency technology was first described in a 2008 paper published under Nakamoto’s name, which detailed a "peer-to-peer electronic cash system". Chowdhry described the invention of bitcoin as "nothing short of revolutionary" in a Huffington Post blog detailing his decision. Bitcoin’s underlying block-chain technology was also cited for spawning major innovations in the FinTech space. "The invention of bitcoin − a digital currency − is nothing short of revolutionary," Chowdhry wrote. "It offers many advantages over both physical and paper currencies. It is secure, relying on almost unbreakable cryptographic code, can be divided into millions of smaller sub-units, and can be transferred securely and nearly instantaneously from one person to any other person in the world with access to internet bypassing governments, central banks and financial intermediaries, such as Visa, Mastercard, Paypal or commercial banks, eliminating time delays and transaction costs." Previous attempts to reveal Nakamoto’s identity have failed to deliver any concrete proof, though some believe that evidence points to cryptographic expert Nick Szabo. A five-month investigation by the author and financial writer Dominic Frisby concluded that Szabo is the only candidate capable of creating the world’s most famous cryptocurrency. Szabo has denied the claims to both Frisby privately and on Twitter publicly. Szabo’s own privacy is closely protected, with very little information beyond […]
