The FBI's Hunt for Satoshi Nakamoto: Japanese or American? The Answer Might Be Coming!

Question

In 2014, Newsweek reporter Leah Goodman claimed to have found the Bitcoin founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.

The man she believed was Satoshi Nakamoto was called Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, a 65-year-old Japanese-American.

He graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a physics degree and lived in the foothills of San Bernardino mountains in Los Angeles.

Goodman's team discovered Dorian Nakamoto's original name was actually Satoshi Nakamoto. He changed it to Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto in 1973 and had gone by that ever since.

This background made the public believe he might be Bitcoin's founder Satoshi Nakamoto.

However, after three years in hiding, the real Satoshi Nakamoto suddenly appeared on the p2p foundation forum and clearly stated: "I am not Dorian Nakamoto."

Plus, Dorian himself vehemently denied being Bitcoin's inventor, claiming he first heard the word Bitcoin from his son. The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains a damn mystery that nobody's figured out yet.

There are several major theories about Satoshi's identity:

Personal Identity: Some think Satoshi is a real person, probably a tech expert skilled in cryptography and computer science.
Pseudonym: Others believe Satoshi is a fake name, possibly representing a team of developers who created Bitcoin together.
Revealed Candidates: Over the years, many have been suspected or self-declared as Satoshi, including computer scientist Nick Szabo and Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki, but these claims lack solid evidence.
Anonymity: Satoshi's anonymity aligns with Bitcoin's philosophy of decentralization and privacy protection.
Disappearance: Satoshi suddenly vanished around 2010 and stopped participating in Bitcoin development and community discussions, leaving many mysteries unsolved.

On December 5, 2010, when Bitcoin users began suggesting WikiLeaks accept Bitcoin donations, Satoshi, who had been mostly focused on technical discussions, jumped into the conversation with unusual passion.

"This project needs to grow gradually so the software can be continuously improved along the way," he wrote in a Bitcoin forum post.

"I beg WikiLeaks not to accept Bitcoin. It's still a small test community in its infancy. If not handled properly at this stage, it will only destroy Bitcoin."

On December 12, 2010, at 6:22 PM, seven days after posting his plea about WikiLeaks donations, Satoshi published his final forum post about mundane software update details. After that, his email responses became increasingly erratic before stopping completely.

Investigative journalist Dave Troy recently revealed the FBI responded to his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information about Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto with a "neither confirm nor deny" response about relevant records existing.

Troy highlighted that the FBI's response suggested Satoshi might be a "third-party individual." He plans to appeal the result in an attempt to get more information the FBI might have on Satoshi.

While some have speculated that Hal Finney, one of Bitcoin's earliest contributors, could be Satoshi, there's no conclusive evidence to support this idea so far.

After Satoshi himself came forward to clarify the "Dorian Satoshi" incident, someone discovered that Hal Finney, who participated in Bitcoin's early development, lived just blocks away from Dorian Nakamoto's family.

This discovery immediately sparked rumors that Hal Finney was Satoshi, rumors that quickly spread through the community.

Hal Finney's relationship with Satoshi was indeed close. In late 2008, after Satoshi first proposed the Bitcoin concept, Finney made suggestions for improvements, to which Satoshi responded.

Satoshi also sent Finney the first Bitcoin transaction in history

However, Finney neither confirmed nor denied these speculations. He simply wrote an article documenting his history with Satoshi and Bitcoin.

Hal Finney died in August 2014. According to his final wishes, his family sent his body to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation's cryogenic repository for preservation.

Satoshi's last message on the forum may be the final word we ever get from Bitcoin's creator. Perhaps we'll never know who Satoshi Nakamoto really is, but Bitcoin remains the wealth we still have the opportunity to own.