Entrepreneur Craig Wright says he is the creator of the bitcoin crypto-currency. In this 2014 file photo, a man arrives for the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. For years, it’s been a mystery: Who created the bitcoin crypto-currency, only to vanish as the virtual money grew into a phenomenon? Australian computer scientist Craig Wright now says he’s "Satoshi Nakamoto," the alias that was used to create bitcoin.
"Satoshi is dead," Wright wrote in a blog post in which he says he created bitcoin. "But this is only the beginning."
In his blog post, Wright also discusses identity and meaning — or, more precisely, the sign and the signified — key semiotic concepts that apply to both currency and literature (Wright quotes Jean-Paul Sartre ) and theology (in which he holds a doctorate).
Wright, 45, is an entrepreneur whose name has often been mentioned in conversations about bitcoin’s creator — most notably in December, when NPR’s Alina Selyukh wrote that both Wired magazine and Gizmodo had concluded bitcoin was probably started by Wright, possibly in conjunction with U.S. computer expert David Kleiman, who died in in 2013.
At the time, Wright was also under the scrutiny of Australia’s government, with police raiding his home and office in Sydney as part of a tax investigation. That part of the story — along with journalists’ ( since disputed ) claims of having unmasked Satoshi — means that Wright’s declaration is generating some skepticism, and even some declarations that he’s engaging in a hoax.
In forums on Reddit and elsewhere, critics are faulting the proof that Wright seemed to offer for his claim; others say it could take days and weeks to verify.
The BBC , which along with The Economist and GQ was given special access to Wright, reports that during its session […]
