Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto: Creator of Bitcoin (pseudonym), active 2008–2011. Wrote the Bitcoin whitepaper (31 Oct 2008), mined the genesis block and released Bitcoin v0.1 (8 Jan 2009). Handed the project to other developers in December 2010 and stopped writing in April 2011. First known message: email to Adam Back, 20 Aug 2008.
Source: bitcoindefense.org
Key facts
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Also known as | satoshi | bitcoindefense.org |
| Role | Creator of Bitcoin (pseudonym), active 2008–2011 | bitcoindefense.org |
| First known Bitcoin link | First known message: email to Adam Back, 20 Aug 2008 | bitcoindefense.org |
What is known for sure
- “Satoshi Nakamoto” is a pseudonym. The real name, country and age are not established.
- Public activity: from 31 October 2008 (the whitepaper email) to 12 December 2010 (the last forum post). The last known private emails date from April 2011 [Mike Hearn’s published Satoshi emails (thread 5)].
- Everything he wrote in public is archived by the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute: emails, forum posts and the whitepaper.
- The early code is open; its history continues in the Bitcoin Core repository — see /code.
Timeline: from the whitepaper to the court ruling
- October 31, 2008The whitepaper
“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” is sent to the cryptography mailing list (18:10 UTC). [SNI][Bitcoin whitepaper (bitcoin.org)]
- January 3, 2009Genesis block
Block 0 is mined at 18:15 UTC. Its coinbase carries the headline “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”. [mempool.space]
- January 8, 2009Bitcoin v0.1 released
Satoshi announces the first release of the software on the mailing list. [SNI]
- January 12, 2009First transaction: 10 BTC to Hal Finney
In block 170 Satoshi sends 10 BTC to Hal Finney as a test. [mempool.space][Hal Finney]
- February 11, 2009P2P Foundation post
Satoshi explains why money built on trust in a central bank is the root problem. [SNI]
- November 22, 2009The forum that became BitcoinTalk
Satoshi opens the new Bitcoin forum and reposts the old threads. [SNI]
- December 11, 2010“WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet’s nest”
A warning against attention from WikiLeaks donations. [SNI]
- December 12, 2010Last public forum post
Version 0.3.19 with DoS limits. The last post on the forum; the last mailing-list email follows on 13 Dec. [SNI][SNI]
- April 23, 2011“I’ve moved on to other things”
One of the last known private emails, to Mike Hearn, published by Hearn. [Mike Hearn’s published Satoshi emails (thread 5)]
- September 16, 2021Statue unveiled in Budapest
A bronze bust with a reflective face (“we are all Satoshi”) opens in Graphisoft Park. [Statue of Satoshi (official site)][AP]
- March 14, 2024UK High Court: Craig Wright is not Satoshi
Mr Justice Mellor rules that the evidence is overwhelming; full judgment on 20 May 2024. [COPA v Wright [2024] EWHC 1198 (Ch)][Reuters]
More Satoshi quotes
Verbatim, each checked against the original.
“It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.”
“The nature of Bitcoin is such that once version 0.1 was released, the core design was set in stone for the rest of its lifetime.”
“Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.”
“Writing a description for this thing for general audiences is bloody hard. There's nothing to relate it to.”
“WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet's nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”
How many coins: the Patoshi pattern
At $81,341 per BTC (Coinbase, Oct 22, 09:09 PM London).
Researcher Sergio Lerner spotted the fingerprint of a single miner in the early 2009–2010 blocks and called it Patoshi. In 2013 he counted 19,600 such blocks (980K BTC) [Sergio Lerner]; in 2019, with a more precise analysis, about 22,000 blocks, or about 1.1M BTC [Sergio Lerner]. That this miner was Satoshi is plausible but unproven. The coins are almost entirely unspent.
How it shows up: the coinbase ExtraNonce field of one miner climbs in steady slopes block after block, his blocks never go backwards in time (one clock on one computer), and his nonces sit in a narrow range. With these fingerprints Lerner tags the blocks with about 0.1% error. [Sergio Lerner]
The genesis block and its address
Into the first block Satoshi wrote a headline from The Times of 3 January 2009. It is both a timestamp (the block could not exist earlier) and a comment on bank bailouts:
The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks [mempool.space]
1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa
67,091 incoming transactions · updated Oct 22, 09:09 PM London
The first 50 BTC at this address can never be spent: the genesis reward was never added to the set of spendable coins. Everything else is gifts people send as a tribute. Not a single coin has ever left the address.
Who is he? Theories and their status
Listed neutrally. None is proven.
- Craig WrightRuled out by court
Claimed to be Satoshi. On 14 March 2024 the UK High Court declared he is not the whitepaper’s author, not the person behind the pseudonym in 2008–2011 and not Bitcoin’s creator; the judge found he forged documents “on a grand scale”. [COPA v Wright [2024] EWHC 1198 (Ch)][Reuters]
- Hal FinneyDenied
Received the first transaction. Denied being Satoshi in 2014 (Forbes); his emails with Satoshi show two different people. Died in August 2014. [Hal Finney]
- Nick SzaboDenied
Designed “bit gold”. Has repeatedly denied being Satoshi. [Wikipedia]
- Adam BackDenied
Created Hashcash, cited in the whitepaper. Named by a New York Times investigation in April 2026; replied “i'm not satoshi”. [TechCrunch]
- Peter ToddDenied
Named by the HBO film “Money Electric” in October 2024; called the theory ludicrous. [CoinDesk]
- Dorian NakamotoDenied
Named by Newsweek in March 2014; told AP “I got nothing to do with it”. [AP]
The statue in Budapest
On 16 September 2021, what its makers call the world’s first statue of Satoshi was unveiled in Graphisoft Park (Záhony u. 7, Budapest). The bronze bust is by Hungarian sculptors Réka Gergely and Tamás Gilly. Its face is a mirror: you see yourself — “we are all Satoshi”. [Statue of Satoshi (official site)] [AP]
Background
Electronic cash without a trusted third party, proof-of-work, peer-to-peer networks (from the whitepaper and his posts) [bitcoin.org]
What is not known
Pseudonymous. Identity unknown; we do not speculate. Last known message: 23 April 2011.
Education, work, location and real name are not documented. Time-zone and writing-style analyses exist, but they are not facts, so we do not list them.
Connections
- Hal Finney: Sent him 10 BTC in block 170, the first person-to-person transaction (12 Jan 2009) [mempool.space]
- Adam Back: Emailed him on 20 Aug 2008 to check the Hashcash citation [bitcoindefense.org]
- Wei Dai: Emailed him on 22 Aug 2008 to cite b-money [gwern.net]
- Martti Malmi: Worked with him by email, 2009–2011 [mmalmi.github.io]
- Gavin Andresen: Gavin took over project management “with Satoshi's blessing” (Dec 2010) [bitcointalk.org]
- Mike Hearn: His last known email went to Mike Hearn (23 Apr 2011) [plan99.net]
In their own words
“I'm getting ready to release a paper that references your Hashcash paper and I wanted to make sure I have the citation right.” (20 Aug 2008, via email (published in the COPA v Wright trial)) [bitcoindefense.org]
“I was very interested to read your b-money page. I'm getting ready to release a paper that expands on your ideas into a complete working system.” (22 Aug 2008, via email (published by Wei Dai)) [gwern.net]
“I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.” (31 Oct 2008, via Cryptography mailing list (metzdowd)) [satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org]
“Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new electronic cash system…” (8 Jan 2009, via Cryptography mailing list (metzdowd)) [satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org]
“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work.” (11 Feb 2009, via P2P Foundation) [satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org]
“Bitcoin is an implementation of Wei Dai's b-money proposal http://weidai.com/bmoney.txt on Cypherpunks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunks in 1998 and Nick Szabo's Bitgold proposal http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2005/12/bit-gold.html” (20 Jul 2010, via BitcoinTalk) [satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org]
“There's more work to do on DoS, but I'm doing a quick build of what I have so far in case it's needed…” (12 Dec 2010, via BitcoinTalk) [satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org]
“I've moved on to other things. It's in good hands with Gavin and everyone.” (23 Apr 2011, via email (published by Mike Hearn)) [plan99.net]
From the Bitcoin Museum
bitcoin.org is registered (18 Aug 2008): The domain that would host the whitepaper and the first software is registered.
Satoshi's first known email goes to Adam Back (20 Aug 2008): Before publishing the whitepaper, Satoshi emails Adam Back to check the Hashcash citation and shares the draft “Electronic Cash Without a Trusted Third Party”. Back replies on 21 August that the citation looks right and points him to Wei Dai's b-money, which Satoshi had not known. The emails were first made public in the COPA v Wright trial.
Satoshi's last forum post (12 Dec 2010): Satoshi announces version 0.3.19 on BitcoinTalk: “There's more work to do on DoS, but I'm doing a quick build of what I have so far in case it's needed…” No public posts follow.
Satoshi's last known message (23 Apr 2011): Replying to Mike Hearn, Satoshi says he has moved on. No later message from him is known.
FAQ
- Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
- Satoshi Nakamoto: Creator of Bitcoin (pseudonym), active 2008–2011. Wrote the Bitcoin whitepaper (31 Oct 2008), mined the genesis block and released Bitcoin v0.1 (8 Jan 2009). Handed the project to other developers in December 2010 and stopped writing in April 2011. First known message: email to Adam Back, 20 Aug 2008. (source: bitcoindefense.org)
- When did Satoshi Nakamoto first appear in Bitcoin's history?
- First known message: email to Adam Back, 20 Aug 2008. (source: bitcoindefense.org)
- What is known and not known about Satoshi Nakamoto?
- Pseudonymous. Identity unknown; we do not speculate. Last known message: 23 April 2011. Creator of Bitcoin (pseudonym), active 2008–2011. (source: bitcoindefense.org)
- How was Satoshi Nakamoto connected to Hal Finney?
- Sent him 10 BTC in block 170, the first person-to-person transaction (12 Jan 2009). (source: mempool.space)
- Is Satoshi one person?
- Nobody knows. Satoshi wrote as “I”, but whether that is one person or a group is not proven.
- Has Satoshi ever moved his coins?
- Coins in the Patoshi blocks are, with very few exceptions, unspent. The ownership of those blocks is itself an estimate.
- Can the genesis coins be spent?
- No. The 50 BTC reward of block 0 was never added to the set of spendable coins, so the code cannot spend it. Everything else at that address is gifts sent later by people.
See also
- Hal FinneyHal Finney: Cryptographer, first person besides Satoshi to run Bitcoin, recipient of the first transaction. Cypherpunk and PGP developer who built RPOW, his own proof-of-work currency. He ran Bitcoin from day one and received 10 BTC from Satoshi in block 170. First Bitcoin post: reply on the Cryptography list, 7 Nov 2008.
- Adam BackAdam Back: Inventor of Hashcash, cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper; co-founder and CEO of Blockstream. Cypherpunk and cryptographer. In 1997 he proposed Hashcash, the proof-of-work that Bitcoin mining uses. In 2008 Satoshi emailed him before publishing the whitepaper, and he pointed Satoshi to Wei Dai's b-money. In 2024 he testified in COPA v Wright.
- Wei DaiWei Dai: Computer engineer, author of b-money, reference [1] of the whitepaper. Described b-money in 1998: money created by solving computational problems and kept on pseudonymous accounts. Satoshi wrote that Bitcoin “expands on your ideas into a complete working system”. Announced b-money on the cypherpunks list, 27 Nov 1998 (UTC).
- Martti MalmiMartti Malmi: Bitcoin's second developer (“sirius”); set up the forum that became BitcoinTalk. A computer-science student in Finland who emailed Satoshi in 2009, wrote the website and FAQ, worked on the Linux port and set up the forums. He published his emails with Satoshi for the 2024 COPA trial.
- Gavin AndresenGavin Andresen: Early developer; ran the Bitcoin Faucet, led the project after Satoshi. Gave away free bitcoins through his Faucet in 2010 so newcomers could try Bitcoin. In December 2010 he started managing the project “with Satoshi's blessing”, and Satoshi's last email said the project was “in good hands with Gavin and everyone”.
- Mike HearnMike Hearn: Early contributor, author of bitcoinj; received Satoshi's last known email. Worked on bitcoinj, a Java implementation of Bitcoin. In January 2016 he announced he was leaving Bitcoin in the essay “The resolution of the Bitcoin experiment”. Email thread with Satoshi, April 2011.
- Bitcoin whitepaper“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” is the 9-page paper by Satoshi Nakamoto, sent to a cryptography mailing list on 31 October 2008. It proposes electronic cash without a trusted third party, using proof-of-work to solve double-spending. The PDF is at bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf.
- Genesis blockThe genesis block is block 0, the first block of Bitcoin, mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on 3 January 2009. It carries a newspaper headline about bank bailouts.
References
- bitcoindefense.org bitcoindefense.org
- bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf bitcoin.org
- Satoshi Nakamoto Institute satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- gwern.net gwern.net
- satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- mempool.space mempool.space
- satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- mempool.space mempool.space
- satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- plan99.net plan99.net
- mmalmi.github.io mmalmi.github.io
- bitcointalk.org bitcointalk.org
- Satoshi Nakamoto Institute: whitepaper satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: “Bitcoin v0.1 released”, 16 Jan 2009 satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: “Welcome to the new Bitcoin forum!”, 22 Nov 2009 satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: BitcoinTalk post, 17 Jun 2010 satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: BitcoinTalk “Re: Dying bitcoins”, 21 Jun 2010 satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: BitcoinTalk post, 5 Jul 2010 satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: BitcoinTalk post, 11 Dec 2010 satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: all Satoshi emails satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- SNI: all Satoshi forum posts satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
- mempool.space: genesis address mempool.space
- Hal Finney, “Bitcoin and Me” (2013), SNI library nakamotoinstitute.org
- Sergio Lerner, Bitslog, 24 Apr 2013 (980K BTC) bitslog.com
- Sergio Lerner, Bitslog, 16 Apr 2019 (~1.1M BTC) bitslog.com
- COPA v Wright [2024] EWHC 1198 (Ch), judiciary.uk judiciary.uk
- Reuters, 14 Mar 2024 reuters.com
- Wikipedia: Nick Szabo (denials) en.wikipedia.org
- TechCrunch, 8 Apr 2026 techcrunch.com
- CoinDesk, 8 Oct 2024 coindesk.com
- AP, Mar 2014 apnews.com
- Statue of Satoshi (official site) statueofsatoshi.com
- AP, 16 Sep 2021 apnews.com
- en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org