The name "Satoshi Nakamoto" is the pseudonym for the person or people who introduced the concept of Bitcoin in a 2008 paper.
Nakamoto remained active in the creation of Bitcoin and the blockchain until about 2010 but has not been heard from since.
The name "Satoshi Nakamoto" is the pseudonym for the person or people who introduced the concept of Bitcoin in a 2008 paper.
What Is Known About Satoshi Nakamoto
The Satoshi Nakamoto persona appeared to be involved in the early days of Bitcoin, working on the first version of the software in 2007.
2
Communication to and from Nakamoto was conducted via email. The lack of personal and background details meant it was, and is, impossible to find out the actual identity behind the name.
Nakamoto was not the first to hit on the concept of cryptocurrency but was the one to solve a fundamental problem that prevented its adoption: Unlike paper currency, cryptocurrency could be spent more than once. This was known as "double-spending," and Nakamoto solved it by proposing a peer-to-peer distributed timestamp server. This distributed server would "...generate computational proof of the chronological order of the transactions" using something similar to the proof-of-work system designed by Adam Back.
Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Learn about our editorial policies
Updated October 03, 2024
Reviewed by Erika Rasure
Fact checked by Yarilet Perez
Key Takeaways
Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym for whoever penned the original Bitcoin whitepaper and is the identity credited with inventing Bitcoin itself.
Several people have claimed or were thought to be Satoshi, but their true identity has never been verified or revealed.
Given the price of BTC today, Satoshi would be a billionaire because it is rumored (but not proven) that they hold more than one million BTC.
Satoshi Nakamoto
Investopedia / Bailey Mariner
Communication to and from Nakamoto was conducted via email. The lack of personal and background details meant it was, and is, impossible to find out the actual identity behind the name.
Nakamoto was not the first to hit on the concept of cryptocurrency but was the one to solve a fundamental problem that prevented its adoption: Unlike paper currency, cryptocurrency could be spent more than once. This was known as "double-spending," and Nakamoto solved it by proposing a peer-to-peer distributed timestamp server. This distributed server would "...generate computational proof of the chronological order of the transactions" using something similar to the proof-of-work system designed by Adam Back.
3
Nakamoto’s involvement with Bitcoin, however, ended in 2010. The last correspondence anyone had with Nakamoto was in an email to another crypto developer saying that "they had moved on to other things." The inability to put a face to the name has led to significant speculation about Nakamoto’s identity, especially since cryptocurrencies have increased in number, popularity, notoriety, and value.
Notable Accomplishments
Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper in 2008 that introduced cryptocurrency to a much wider audience, initiating its rise to popularity..
The paper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, described the use of a peer-to-peer network as a solution to the problem of double-spending.
1
Cryptocurrency was not a new idea at the time; there had been more than a few attempts to create a digital currency. However, Bitcoin addressed a significant issue.
A digital currency or token could be duplicated in multiple transactions. This is not found in physical currencies since a physical bill or coin can only exist in one place at any given moment. Because a digital currency does not exist in physical space, using it in a transaction does not necessarily remove it from someone's possession. As a result, it could be spent more than once, causing it to be termed the "double-spend" problem.