Breaking within the last hours the BBC is reporting that Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has publicly identified himself as Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
His admission ends years of speculation about who came up with the original ideas underlying the digital cryptocurrency. Mr. Wright has provided technical proof to back up his claim using coins known to be owned by Bitcoin’s creator.
Prominent members of the Bitcoin community and its core development team have also confirmed Mr Wright’s claim.
…Mr. Wright has revealed his identity to three media organisations – the BBC, the Economist and GQ.
At the meeting with the BBC, Mr. Wright digitally signed messages using cryptographic keys created during the early days of Bitcoin’s development. The keys are inextricably linked to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created or “mined” by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Back in December of 2015, Australian Federal Police officers searched the home of Craig Wright in Sydney’s north shore concerning taxes. Just hours before the raid, Wired Magazine speculated on the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto and creator of the bitcoin technology and currency as Mr. Wright.
It is believed that the Bitcoin creator (we can assume this now officially true to be Mr. Wright) amassed about one million Bitcoins which would give him a net worth in Bitcoin (BTC), if all were exchanged for cash, of about $450m USD at today’s BTC to USD exchange rate of around 1 BTC = $450 USD, for 2 May 2016.
In the interview, Mr. Wright said he doesn’t want to be famous or well known, he just wants to work and never wants to be on camera again.
For followers of Bitcoin the name Satoshi Nakamoto is well known as the pseudonym of the mysterious person or group of people who authored the paper, protocol and software that gave rise to bitcoin.
Click here to see the full exclusive BBC story and video interview.