Craig Wright claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Some have claimed his proofs don’t add up… yet. We may never know the true identity the real Satoshi Nakamoto. Australian academic Craig Wright has reportedly confirmed himself as the Bitcoin creator, signing messages with cryptographic keys said to solely belong to Satoshi in private sessions with a handful of media organizations and community luminaries. But within minutes of Wright’s claims being published, encryption experts have expressed doubt.
In late 2015, Australian academic Wright was outed by Gawker and Wired as the most likely candidate for the true Satoshi. After analysing leaked emails and having traced Wright to his residence in Australia before he disappeared, it appeared he was indeed the original Bitcoin developer. But many later suggested there was no proof and that he had perpetrated an elaborate hoax.
But in a strange, rambling blog released today, Wright posted some limited information, including what readers believed to be the result of cryptographically signing a slice of text from existentialist philosopher Jean-Peal Sartre. The cryptographic representation of that signed text, the blog indicated (though didn’t specifically state), could only have been the result of signing with Satoshi’s original key. According to the BBC, he will reveal more public information in the future.
Backing up Wright’s claims were two significant members of the Bitcoin community: founding director at Bitcoin Foundation and CEO of Hushmail Jon Matonis, and chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation Gavin Andresen . Both were flown to London to meet Wright and be shown the cryptographic proofs, namely the signing of messages with a private key that most likely belonged to Satoshi (the key could have been stolen).
“During the London proof sessions, I had the opportunity to review the relevant data along three distinct lines: cryptographic, social, and technical. Based on what I […]
