Recently, I've been pondering one of the greatest mysteries in the history of cryptography—who exactly is Satoshi Nakamoto?

You might find it hard to believe, but on October 31, 2008, a person named Satoshi Nakamoto posted a 9-page PDF on a mailing list. These nine pages changed the entire financial world. Two months later, the Bitcoin network went live, and in the genesis block, he left a message: "The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer is on the brink of a second bank bailout"—this is not just technology; it's a warning to the entire financial system.

What's even crazier is that Satoshi Nakamoto almost completed all the pioneering work over the next two years. Writing the client, running nodes, helping people mine, sending the first BTC to Hal Finney, actively participating in forum discussions. Then in 2010, he disappeared, and the last message in April 2011 was "I've moved on to other things." Since then, no further communication.

Do you know what's the most unbelievable part? It's estimated that Satoshi mined about 1 million BTC. At the current price of $80.29k per Bitcoin, that’s worth over $80.29k. It's been 15 years, and these coins haven't moved at all. No transfers, no spending, no cashing out. As if frozen in time.

So, various speculations have emerged online. Some say Satoshi is the cryptographer Hal Finney because Finney was the first person to receive Bitcoin. Others point to Nick Szabo, who created "Bit Gold" in 2005, with a writing style remarkably similar to Satoshi’s. There’s also the fact that Adam Back’s invention, Hashcash, was referenced in the Bitcoin white paper, and the British spelling matches. Some even link Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, though Musk has directly denied it. The funniest is Craig Wright claiming to be Satoshi, going to court, but he’s never signed with Satoshi’s private key—something that could be proven in a second, yet he refuses to do so. The developer community widely considers him a scammer.

There’s also a conspiracy theory that the NSA is behind it all. The core cryptographic algorithm of Bitcoin, SHA-256, was indeed designed by the NSA, and its release coincided with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, disappearing cleanly and swiftly. But there’s no solid evidence for this, and it completely contradicts Bitcoin’s spirit of decentralization.

But think about it—perhaps the most impressive thing about Satoshi Nakamoto isn’t who he is. He gave the world a set of code, then disappeared. No pursuit of fame, no cashing out, no desire for power. Bitcoin’s foundation is mathematics, code, and community—who the creator is doesn’t really matter. Maybe that’s the real reason it can’t be destroyed.