Craig Wright, an Australian native, last week claimed that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for the inventor of Bitcoin, which was first created in 2009.
His name was revealed by BBC, the Economist, and GQ, which all quoted Wright as claiming he was the—until now—highly secretive creator of the online medium of exchange, an eMoney that is sometimes used for online gaming.
Wright told the news sources that he could offer “technical proof to back up his claim using coins known to be owned by Bitcoin’s creator,” according to the BBC.
Gavin Andresen, the man that Nakamoto left in charge of Bitcoin when he left without notice in 2011, told the news outlets that he believes Wright is the inventor. However, he never met the enigmatic inventor face-to-face.
Others don’t believe Wright and think that he is perpetuating a scam designed to further mislead the public as to Nakamoto’s actual identify.
Wright’s name has come up multiple times as the possible Bitcoin inventor. Wired and Gizmodo last year reported on the possibility in December. No one has been able to establish this without a doubt, proof that Nakamoto would be able to provide.
According to tech experts the true inventor would be able to provide a cryptographic key that could be authenticated without a doubt.
Bitcoin is based on “digital signatures” that are the product of cryptographic technology.
Vox proclaimed last week: “Some of the earliest Bitcoin transactions were signed with a private key belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto. So the easiest and most convincing way to show that you’re Nakamoto is to sign something with this private key.”
However, Jon Matonis, one of the founding directors of the Bitcoin Foundation, also backed up Wright’s claim. “During the London proof sessions, I had the opportunity to review the relevant data along three distinct lines: cryptographic, social, and technical,” he told IT Pro. “It is my firm belief that Craig Wright satisfies all three categories.”
Meanwhile the Isle of Man became the first online gaming jurisdiction to officially allow Bitcoin and other virtual currencies for its players. Bitcoin will be accepted as cash deposits for the online sites under the jurisdiction of the Isle.
The Isle of Man has previously earned the nickname “Bitcoin Island” for its tolerance of the online currency. For the past few months it has been working on a regulatory framework that would allow any company operating there to use it.
Bitcoin was viewed with suspicion by many governmental agencies when it first surfaced because they saw it as a way to avoid the law. However in recent years they have become more accepting of it.
Currently there are about 15.5 million bitcoins in circulation. Each is worth about $449. Nakamoto is believed to possess about one million of them.
But shortly after several media sources speculated that Wright was Nakamoto the Australian Taxation Office raided his home, saying it was investigating Wright’s tax payments—not Bitcoin.
Wright said he was cooperating with the tax authorities.
