Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto May Have Been Identified And Police Just Raided His House

In recent years as Bitcoin has launched cryptocurrency into the mainstream, the identity of its creator (or creators), known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, has been the subject of considerable speculation. After appearing out of nowhere and gifting the world with Bitcoin and the blockchain, assured that development would be continued by the burgeoning community, he quietly disappeared... with about a million Bitcoins in his wallet.

Yesterday, Wired identified a 44 year-old Australian man as likely being the enigmatic Nakamoto.

Wired - Bitcoin’s Creator Satoshi Nakamoto Is Probably This Unknown Australian Genius

EVEN AS HIS face towered 10 feet above the crowd at the Bitcoin Investor’s Conference in Las Vegas, Craig Steven Wright was, to most of the audience of crypto and finance geeks, a nobody.

The 44-year-old Australian, Skyping into the D Hotel ballroom’s screen, wore the bitcoin enthusiast’s equivalent of camouflage: a black blazer and a tieless, rumpled shirt, his brown hair neatly parted. His name hadn’t made the conference’s list of “featured speakers.” Even the panel’s moderator, a bitcoin blogger named Michele Seven, seemed concerned the audience wouldn’t know why he was there. Wright had hardly begun to introduce himself as a “former academic who does research that no one ever hears about,” when she interrupted him.

“Hold on a second, who are you?” Seven cut in, laughing. “Are you a computer scientist?”

“I’m a bit of everything,” Wright responded. “I have a master’s in law…a master’s in statistics, a couple doctorates…”

“How did you first learn about bitcoin?” Seven interrupted again, as if still trying to clarify Wright’s significance.

Wright paused for three full seconds. “Um. I’ve been involved with all this for a long time,” he stuttered. “I—try and stay—I keep my head down. Um…”

Last month an anonymous source claiming to be a close acquaintance of Nakamoto began leaking all manners of information to a pseudonymous journalist, Gwern Branwen, who in turn provided it to the staff of Wired magazine. Using the information in these documents, Wired was quickly able to connect a lot of dots and their case for Wright is pretty damn convincing.

It's now being reported by several media outlets that mere hours after the Wired story appeared, the home of Craig Wright was raided by Australian authorities.

Huffington Post - Australian Police Raid Home Of Reported Bitcoin Creator

More than a dozen federal police officers entered the house, on Sydney's north shore, on Wednesday after locksmiths broke open the door. When asked what they were doing, one officer told a Reuters reporter that they were "clearing the house."
The Australian Federal Police said in a statement that the officers' "presence at Mr. Wright's property is not associated with the media reporting overnight about bitcoins."

The AFP referred all inquiries about the raid to the Australian Tax Office, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The police raid in Australia came hours after Wired magazine and technology website Gizmodo published articles saying that their investigations showed Wright, who they said was an Australian academic, was probably the secretive bitcoin creator.

This is a "developing story" but the raid seems to be a pretty dramatic confirmation that if nothing else, the Australian Tax Office believes that Wright is Nakamoto. I haven't read anything about the location of Wright but if he's locked up, I can see him becoming the world's most prominent political prisoner in very short order.

If he really is the creator of bitcoin then he wanted to be discovered. Whoever created it is leaps and bounds ahead of any intelligence agency anywhere.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Dude you are killing me tonight.. first The dolphins now this, I need to get to bed.

Been looking into this further as a BTC user. Likely bad news for Bitcoin's integrity since already authorities are already looking at the BTC and terrorism usage link.

Considering a claimed finding of him has been false before, kinda doubting it. In fact that Satoshi is not even a person but a pseudonym of more than one persons involved in the project. He may have been a creator, but maybe not the creator.

Interesting to see how it plays out.

originally posted by: interupt42
a reply to: theantediluvian

Dude you are killing me tonight.. first The dolphins now this, I need to get to bed.

I hear ya! I was writing code most of the night and and then as I was trying to read up on some questions I had about the dolphins so I could follow up in that thread, somebody messaged me about this on IRC and I thought ATS would like to know. Now I'm calling it a night. I assume that if Wright does turn out to be Nakamoto, this will be all over the media today.

Yeah, he created bitcoin ... so what? Is this the part, where fascist governments barge in and say "Hey, YOU! you haven't paid us for protection ... pay up, or we beat and rape your wife!".

Glad Bitcoin is not controlled by TPTB. It was my greatest fear that they were the creators behind it in order to implement a completely cashless society. To me they still own both sides of the chess board They own Putin and they still may be behind Bitcoin. I hope not though. This guy may still be one of their agents.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Well interesting, but I doubt this is one of the creators of bitcoin. As Vector said the only way I can see this guy showing up for something like this, and then saying anything that could let people know he helped create it, would be if he wanted to be found.

Like really? Seven years without a sniff then this guy lets something slip like that.

Who would have known to even contact him as a speaker?

I feel like this is either rhetoric or diversion. If its not, the only thing that any government would be able to charge him with would be tax evasion, and that's only if they could find the supposed millions in bitcoin's, prove they were his, and show that he hadn't paid any taxes. It would only be considered taxable income if the bitcoins were cashed in, and not just money made due to growth and demand as a bitcoin is simply a piece of code you bought from the source for a cash. It's like owning a collectible. It'll rise in value, but that doesn't mean you have to pay more taxes on it until you go to sell it.

ETA: Thanks for bringing this to our attention diluvian S+F

granted i never really looked into bit coin, i'm not even sure how it works...but why arrest him?
why not tap into this new market?
it sounds a like like "i don't understand it so it's wrong and you are guilty" type thing.
Is there something i am not taking into account (aside from a government wanting to destroy anything that goes slightly off the beaten path, that's BAU at this point)

a reply to: theantediluvian

Btc is one of the greatest inventions to come out of the internets. I dont think people really understand the implication of it all yet..

While I agree this is an awsome innovation, the bitcoin, you will find it is and will be its own downfall.

The lack of real controls will tear itself apart, and will hold no more value in the end than that chrome holographic special legends insert found in special trading card packs,.. a few years ago.

originally posted by: smirkley
While I agree this is an awsome innovation, the bitcoin, you will find it is and will be its own downfall.

The lack of real controls will tear itself apart, and will hold no more value in the end than that chrome holographic special legends insert found in special trading card packs,.. a few years ago.

Unless of course there is a plan in place the people/person is likely thinking quite a few moves ahead

originally posted by: smirkley


The lack of real controls will tear itself apart, and will hold no more value in the end than that chrome holographic special legends insert found in special trading card packs,.. a few years ago.

Those "real controls" in conventional money being what again?

Interesting to see that Wikileaks has commented to say that they believe Craig S Wright isn't the principle coder:
twitter.com...

On searching for this story on ATS I also got this result: www.abovetopsecret.com...
which I assume is the same Craig Wright- talking about the vulnerability of 747's to Stuxnet type exploits and the industry not listening to him lol.

Wonder where this will go??

originally posted by: IShotMyLastMuse
granted i never really looked into bit coin, i'm not even sure how it works...but why arrest him?
why not tap into this new market?
it sounds a like like "i don't understand it so it's wrong and you are guilty" type thing.
Is there something i am not taking into account (aside from a government wanting to destroy anything that goes slightly off the beaten path, that's BAU at this point)

It's not the government, it's the central banking system. BTC is a monetary system that works as a true currency, rather than this sad twisted concept we've come to know.
The banksters take a portion of every transaction at multiple levels, and have essentially stolen everything from everyone.

Think about it- just a hundred years ago, every family owned the land they lived on. Two, three generations later- nobody owns their own land. Anyone who has it has a thirty year mortgage (Which btw, literally translates to death pledge...)


BTC is essentially a true currency, where the value is set by the general population- you barter with it. Instead of me trying to trade my blueberries directly to you for your services say, repairing my car- I'd sell my blueberries for BTC to whoever wanted them, then barter BTC to you for your services fixing my car. The problem is that the most powerful people on the planet don't get their cut- so they're going to fight it tooth and nail.

Looks like who ever contacted Wired in November also contacted Gizmodo who published their own piece shortly after Wired magazine's.

This Australian Says He and His Dead Friend Invented Bitcoin

A monthlong Gizmodo investigation has uncovered compelling and perplexing new evidence in the search for Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. According to a cache of documents provided to Gizmodo which were corroborated in interviews, Craig Steven Wright, an Australian businessman based in Sydney, and Dave Kleiman, an American computer forensics expert who died in 2013, were involved in the development of the digital currency.

Wired reported this afternoon that Wright and Kleiman were likely involved in creating Bitcoin. Gizmodo has been following a similar trail for weeks, one that in recent days has included face-to-face confrontations with Wright’s business partners in Sydney and interviews with Kleiman’s closest associates in Palm Beach County, Florida. Gizmodo also obtained confirmation from on-the-record sources that Wright claimed on at least two occasions that he and Kleiman were both involved in the creation of Bitcoin.

In early November 2015, Gizmodo received a series of anonymous tip emails from someone who claimed to not only know the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, but who also claimed to have worked for him. “I hacked Satoshi Naklamoto [sic],” the first message read. “These files are all from his business account. The person is Dr Craig Wright.” What followed was a package of email files apparently pulled directly from an Outlook account belonging to Craig Wright, an Australian academic, computer engineering expert, and serial entrepreneur with a litany of degrees and corporations to his name.

About Kleiman:

Several of the emails and documents sent to Gizmodo point to a close relationship between Wright and Kleiman, a U.S. Army veteran who lived in Palm Beach County, Florida. Kleiman was confined to a wheelchair after a motorcycle accident in 1995, and became a reclusive computer forensics obsessive thereafter. He died broke and in squalor, after suffering from infected bedsores. His body was found decomposing and surrounded by empty alcohol bottles and a loaded handgun.

Tons of additional information in this article including images of the (as yet unverified) documents, statements from various people contacted/interviewed, etc.

The Guardian is reporting that the New York Times passed on the story and they provide some additional background on Wright:


Who is Craig Wright and how likely is it that he's behind bitcoin?

Reporter Nathaniel Popper tweeted that while the emails were convincing, he thought Wright “didn’t match” because of his writing and personality.

A series of articles written by Wright have been published on the Conversation. Dr David Glance, a regular contributor to the site, sometimes on the topic of bitcoin, said he doubted Wright had created bitcoin.

“There’s absolutely no way in hell that this guy is involved. He was full of himself back then.

“He never talked about bitcoin, he never wrote about it. He was a sort of security person, a consultant to the industry, and he kept writing articles about how Anonymous were evil, and the evils of hacking – all the rest of it.”

He suggested the news outlets had been “set up”.

Dalgarno said Wright was qualified to write for The Conversation because he was an adjunct lecturer at Charles Sturt University. “The relationship was never formally terminated, with The Conversation working to an article-by-article basis.”

Until recently Wright was the director of more than a dozen companies. That changed quite suddenly in July 2015, when he divested his office holdings in a large number of these companies. In the space of a week, he ceased his position as director from Cloudcroft Pty Ltd, Coin-Exch Pty Ltd, Daso Pty Ltd, Demorgan Holdings Pty Ltd, Demorgan Ltd, Denariuz, Ezas Pty Ltd, Integyrz Pty Ltd, Misfit Games Pty Ltd, Interconnected Research Pty Ltd, Zuhl Pty Ltd and Pholus Pty Ltd.

He remains a director of just three companies: Hotwire Preemptive Intelligence Pty Ltd and Panopticrypt Pty Ltd and Hotwire PE Employee Share Plan Pty Ltd.

Wright was convicted of contempt of court in 2003 following and ultimately sentenced to community service for violating an injunction imposed during legal proceedings in which a former investor in one his businesses apparently sued him for violating a non compete clause in their contract after he resigned from the company, started a new one and apparently contacted customers of the first. It's noted that Wright tried to appeal twice but the courts refused to hear his appeal.

As to where he he is now, possibly London. The owner of the Sydney home he and his wife have been leasing the last few years said they'd switched to a monthly lease around the same time he was divesting himself of many of his holdings and that the couple said they were relocating to London in December with Craig Wright intending to go to London first and his wife to follow shortly after. Also according to the landlord, the lease was extended for an extra week (through to the first week of January). A neighbor reported that a container and moving truck had been to the house in November.

The Guardian also reports:

Wright’s blog was taken down on Wednesday morning, and his Twitter and Google+ accounts have been deleted.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
likely being the enigmatic Nakamoto.

So. What is the crime? – Being Nakamoto?

a reply to: Tritocvafukei

No crime...it's just a co-incidence that a few days after getting outed as Satoshi (by himself) he got raided on separate issues relating to tax evasion (!).

Would bet he's not Satoshi but maybe knows who is/was.

He would make a great Bond villain: creating the terrorists currency of choice (see Paris) , international jet setter millionaire with 2 privately owned super computers etc etc but his interviews and comments dont make me think he is the guy.

The issue still remains that Satoshi can prove who he is at any time by transferring the BTC we know he owns and include a note in the transfer confirming his identity.

Obviously this Wright scenario would be perfect cover for this never happening as he can now state that he is scared of facing tax fines on his un-taxed fortune if he were to prove.

People will surely look back at this and imply that there was something dodgy going on but we'll have to sit it out until some more details emerge.

Couple of more interesting developments on this one:

SGI (the company who make one of Craig Wright's supercomputers) have issued a statement saying they don't know him:
www.zdnet.com...

hmmmm

Also turns out Mr Wright did a stint for contempt of court in 2004 ( which would actually strengthen his case as Satoshi for me) but could also imply he is prone to the odd fib/none truth.

There's also a bit of controversy about the circumstances in which the streamed panel event was organised and how Craig Wright got an invite:



Certainly weird to see Nick Szabo in public and even stranger to see him arguing with Craig Wright- a guy who he (and everyone else involved) seemingly doesn't know from Adam....

Given the circumstances I don't think it's unreasonable to assume someone (Craig Wright?) set this panel up as a way to insert Craig Wright into the narrative.

Best live mystery out there at the moment for me and constantly surprised how a forum of computer users with interests in conspiracy seem to not be interested in Bitcoin....this should be the talk of the forum.

a reply to: smirkley

You mean the ones that are worth 30k and as high as 90k at the moment? Are those the cards you are talking about?

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