The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has meanwhile “neither [confirmed] nor [denied] the existence” of information regarding the real identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Motherboard reported last week.
A Motherboard reporter, Daniel Oberhaus, who writes about physics, space, cryptocurrencies, and the future of energy, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and to the CIA, requesting information regarding the identity of Satoshi.
In 2016, Alexander Muse suggested on his blog Cryptomuse that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had identified the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto using stylometry.
Muse said that even if the the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) knew the identity of the creator of Bitcoin, it would not publicly confirm his FOIA request.
A writer in The New Yorker speculated that Nakamoto could be a thirty-one-year-old Finnish researcher at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology Vili Lehdonvirta. But the researcher denied that he was Satoshi, adding that “even if [he] was [he] wouldn’t tell”.
In 2014, Newsweek reported on a Japanese-American man name Satoshi Nakamoto in California who once discovered by journalists, claimed to be the Bitcoin creator. After a lengthy investigation, it was discovered that he was not the “real” Satoshi.
In 2016, Gizmodo published a report about Craig Wright, who had publicly announced he was Satoshi. The Australian computer scientist and businessman has however made various other controversial statements throughout his career. He has failed to back up his claims that he was the creator of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin – the largest and best-known digital currency – together with other cryptocurrencies pose a threat to the established money system by effectively circumventing it.
Money historically has depended on the authority of the state for credibility, with central banks typically managing its price and quantity. Cryptocurrencies instead rely on decentralised and therefore unhackable technology to guarantee value.
The People’s Bank of China has done trial runs of its prototype cryptocurrency, the first major central bank to issue such digital money, Bloomberg reported. The Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank have launched a joint research project using the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies for market infrastructure.
The Dutch central bank has even created its own cryptocurrency to better understand how it works. But it is for internal circulation only.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his annual Q&A session with Russian citizens that cryptocurrency had its place in the world and Russia should carefully consider when and how to take part in the process of its development.
The president noted that “by definition” neither Russia, nor any other country could have a national cryptocurrency.
