Satoshi Nakamoto, Creator of Bitcoin, Has “Done Classified Work for Major Corporations and the U.S. Military”
March 6th, 2014Update: Nakamoto Now Claims, “I Never Was Involved”
Via: Los Angeles Times:
The day started with a possible answer to one of the digital era’s greatest mysteries: Who created the bitcoin virtual currency that has become a multibillion-dollar global phenomenon?
From there, with the unlikely revelation by Newsweek magazine that it might be Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, a 64-year-old Japanese American living in Temple City, the day only got wilder and weirder.
It featured a media frenzy on his front lawn and a semi-comical car chase through multiple cities as Nakamoto rode in a Prius driven by an Associated Press reporter trying to elude other reporters. And then, a denial from Nakamoto — as he climbed into an elevator at the downtown AP offices — that he was the creator of bitcoin.
“I never was involved,” he said to a Times reporter, saying there was only one reason he had agreed to even talk to a reporter. “It was all for a free lunch.”
Really?
—
The picture that’s painted here is pretty strange. Nakamoto apparently worked on black world projects, but, according to the story, he’s a libertarian and is ambivalent about the government. According to his daughter, “He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge.”
I don’t know what to make of this, but it’s definitely an interesting read.
Via: Newsweek:
Satoshi Nakamoto stands at the end of his sunbaked driveway looking timorous. And annoyed.
He’s wearing a rumpled T-shirt, old blue jeans and white gym socks, without shoes, like he has left the house in a hurry. His hair is unkempt, and he has the thousand-mile stare of someone who has gone weeks without sleep.
He stands not with defiance, but with the slackness of a person who has waged battle for a long time and now faces a grave loss.
Two police officers from the Temple City, Calif., sheriff’s department flank him, looking puzzled. “So, what is it you want to ask this man about?” one of them asks me. “He thinks if he talks to you he’s going to get into trouble.”
“I don’t think he’s in any trouble,” I say. “I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto.”
“What?” The police officer balks. “This is the guy who created Bitcoin? It looks like he’s living a pretty humble life.”
I’d come here to try to find out more about Nakamoto and his humble life. It seemed ludicrous that the man credited with inventing Bitcoin – the world’s most wildly successful digital currency, with transactions of nearly $500 million a day at its peak – would retreat to Los Angeles’s San Bernardino foothills, hole up in the family home and leave his estimated $400 million of Bitcoin riches untouched. It seemed similarly implausible that Nakamoto’s first response to my knocking at his door would be to call the cops. Now face to face, with two police officers as witnesses, Nakamoto’s responses to my questions about Bitcoin were careful but revealing.
Tacitly acknowledging his role in the Bitcoin project, he looks down, staring at the pavement and categorically refuses to answer questions.
“I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it,” he says, dismissing all further queries with a swat of his left hand. “It’s been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection.”
Nakamoto refused to say any more, and the police made it clear our conversation was over.
…
Far from leading to a Tokyo-based whiz kid using the name “Satoshi Nakamoto” as a cipher or pseudonym (a story repeated by everyone from Bitcoin’s rabid fans to The New Yorker), the trail followed by Newsweek led to a 64-year-old Japanese-American man whose name really is Satoshi Nakamoto. He is someone with a penchant for collecting model trains and a career shrouded in secrecy, having done classified work for major corporations and the U.S. military.
Standing before me, eyes downcast, appeared to be the father of Bitcoin.
Not even his family knew.
…
“My brother is an asshole. What you don’t know about him is that he’s worked on classified stuff. His life was a complete blank for a while. You’re not going to be able to get to him. He’ll deny everything. He’ll never admit to starting Bitcoin.”
And with that, Nakamoto’s brother hung up.
…
“He is very wary of government interference in general,” she says. “When I was little, there was a game we used to play. He would say, ‘Pretend the government agencies are coming after you.’ And I would hide in the closet.”
Here’s a guy in bad health, recently suffered from a heart attack, and there’s no definitive proof he is Nakamoto. He doesn’t want to speak with the “journalist”, probably just wants to live a low stress life with his trains, and what he gets is stalked and a detailed profile with a picture of him and his house on a “news website”. Given his lack of interest in this nonsense, the “journalist” then goes to all his family members, amongst which is his gem of a brother that rambles on about how he is an asshole.
Yes, he _may_ be Nakamoto, but as is, this is a non-story that effectively uses some poor peon to take advantage of the hot topic of the day.
Both Satoshi Nakamotos say accused Satoshi Nakamoto isn’t Bitcoin’s creator
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2105782/both-satoshi-nakamotos-say-accused-satoshi-nakamoto-isnt-bitcoins-creator.html
@ rmtew – I totally agree that it was a non-story to sell magazines.
@ tal Thanks for the link. That led me to this article which could be interesting enough to add to the original post:
https://likeinamirror.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/satoshi-nakamoto-is-probably-nick-szabo/