UPDATED, Friday, March 7, 8:20 AM
ET: Indications that the Satoshi Nakamoto identified
yesterday by Newsweek as the creator of Bitcoin is not the
real Nakamoto continue to build. Among the most
interesting bits? The profile page at P2P
Foundation on which Nakamoto announced Bitcoin has been updated
saying simply, “I am not Dorian Nakamoto” (the legal name used by
Newsweek‘s catch). The AP reports out the California-based
Nakamoto’s
denial here as well.
Here’s a piece on Buzzfeed that discusses the practice of
“doxxing,” or tracking people down via online trails and publicly
accessible documents, which is how Newsweek‘s Leah McGrath
Goodman found who she continues to insist is the right man.
Newsweek has been heavily criticized for publishing
pictures of Nakamoto’s home and address, license plate, and
more.
Something to think about as the story proceeds: While uncovering
the identity of who created Bitcoin (whether it’s a single person
or a group) is undeniably interesting and juicy, it has not effect
on the currency’s utility or continued functioning. Indeed, the
reports over Nakamoto’s identity have in many ways blotted out the
apocalyptic warnings that Bitcoin was done after the implosion of
the Mt. Gox exchange last week and the
apparent suicide just days ago of a 28-year-old American,
Autumn Radtke, who ran a Singapore-based exchange.
Related: Last week, I explained why I didn’t
think Bitcoin was finished in the wake of Mt. Gox.
Read that piece here.
Even More Updated, 5:30 PM ET: Hit
“More” or scroll down for latest, including Instagram video in
which Nakamoto denies involvement in Bitcoin.
Updated, 11:32 AM ET: Over at Reddit’s
Bitcoin sub, there’s a lively thread suggesting that Newsweek has
got the wrong Nakamoto. Among the evidence? Past suggestions that
the real Nakamoto’s age is much younger than the one pictured above
and that his written English (based on various online postings and
letters to the editor) isn’t particularly good.
Read the whole thing. Hat Tip: Naomi Brockwell, Reason TV
contributor and proprietor of Bitcoin Girl.
The man pictured above is, says
Newsweek, the creator of bitcoin, Satoshi
Nakamoto:
Far from leading to a Tokyo-based whiz kid using the name
“Satoshi Nakamoto” as a cipher or pseudonym (a story repeated by
everyone from Bitcoin’s rabid fans to The New
Yorker), the trail followed by Newsweek led
to a 64-year-old Japanese-American man whose name really is Satoshi
Nakamoto. He is someone with a penchant for collecting model trains
and a career shrouded in secrecy, having done classified work for
major corporations and the U.S. military.
Nakamoto was hiding in the same way the author Thomas Pynchon
was “hiding” – in plain sight. He used a slightly different name in
his work life, but Nakamoto wasn’t in deep cover. Kudos to
Newsweek‘s Leah McGrath Goodwin for doing the work to find
him. He lives in Temple City, California and came to the U.S. as a
child:
Descended from Samurai and the son of a Buddhist priest,
Nakamoto was born in July 1949 in the city of Beppu, Japan, where
he was brought up poor in the Buddhist tradition by his mother,
Akiko. In 1959, after a divorce and remarriage, she immigrated to
California, taking her three sons with her. Now age 93, she lives
with Nakamoto in Temple City.
Like all great Americans, he lived for a while in New Jersey,
where he worked for RCA in Camden. He also worked for the FAA,
Hughes Aircraft, and a bunch of other firms. He also did defense
contract work.
And yes, he is a libertarian whose own family didn’t
suspect him of being the inventor of the world’s leading
alt-currency.
A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be
independent, start her own business and “not be under the
government’s thumb,” she says. “He was very wary of the government,
taxes and people in charge.”…Calling the possibility her father could also be the father of
Bitcoin “flabbergasting,” Ilene Mitchell says she isn’t surprised
her father would choose to stay under cover if he was the man
behind this venture, especially as he is currently concerned about
his health.“He is very wary of government interference in general,” she
says. “When I was little, there was a game we used to play. He
would say, ‘Pretend the government agencies are coming after you.’
And I would hide in the closet.”
Updated 5:30 PM ET: Via the Twitter feed of Declan McCullagh
comes this image comparing a letter written by Dorian Nakamoto (the
legal name of the man named above as the creator of Bitcoin) and an
announcement of Bitcoin’s founding theoretical document, as
compiled by crytography@metzdowd.com mailing
list. Right-click on image below and choose “open image in new
tab” to read full text or go here.
Nakamoto,
reports The Los Angeles Times, says, “I’m not involved
in Bitcoin.”
Here’s an Instagram of him saying that:
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/1iiWdd4
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