The cryptocurrency asset class has a volatile history. When it first launched in 2009, you had to mine it instead of trading it. But the first Bitcoin price increase occurred in 2010 when one Bitcoin went from $0.0008 to $0.08. Bitcoin has had many ups and downs and has been compared to the Dutch Tulip Mania of the 17th century. While it has been criticized by investors worldwide, including our own Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Bitcoin’s value has largely risen. But no one knows who invented Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto is all we know.

Who is Nakamoto?

The creators of bitcoin used the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto created the world’s first blockchain database while creating bitcoin. Nakamoto worked on bitcoin until 2010 when he vanished.

No one knows if Nakamoto is one person or a group. Even though several attempts have been made over the years to reveal Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity, none have been successful.

The hunt for Nakamoto is this century’s Holy Grail, attracting more attention than the hunt for Banksy’s identity. Unlike Banksy, Nakamoto has never given interviews or made any political or other statements. If Nakamoto is a real person, they are very secretive.

Nakamoto claimed to be a 37-year-old Japanese man in 2012. Even though it is from the horse’s mouth, this is generally accepted to be false. One of the main reasons why this claim is believed to be false is Nakamoto’s apparent fluency in English. Also, certain words used in early interactions with fellow developers suggest Satoshi Nakamoto is British or Commonwealth. One of Nakamoto’s first bitcoin blocks refers to a 2009 Times headline, indicating he was in England and not Japan.

A single person or a group of people?

That’s not all. Some say Nakamoto is a group of people rather than a single person. Dan Kaminsky, a famous security researcher, believes Satoshi Nakamoto is either a team of people or a genius who prefers to be left alone. Laszlo Hanyecz, a developer who has corresponded with Nakamoto via email, is also a proponent of the team theory. Hanyecz thinks the bitcoin code was written by a single person. John McAfee claims Nakamoto is a team of 11 people.

The simple act of tracking the timings of the posts has called into question Nakamoto’s claim of being a Japanese man. Stefan Thomas, a Swiss software engineer, compiled Nakamoto’s bitcoin forum posts’ timestamps. It showed almost no activity between 5 am and 11 am GMT, or 2 pm and 8 pm JST.

This proves what Satoshi Nakamoto is not – a middle-aged Japanese man – but not who he is.

As a result, the identity of the bitcoin inventor is likely as valuable as the amount of bitcoin in Nakamoto’s wallet.

Who has the most bitcoin?

It’s impossible to determine who Satoshi Nakamoto is or how much bitcoin he owns. But according to all estimates, Satoshi Nakamoto has nearly 1 million bitcoin, or just over $39 billion. Satoshi Nakamoto is now one of the world’s 40 richest people. That is if Satoshi Nakamoto is single.