The creator of Bitcoin, on 31 October 2008, made public a manifesto entitled 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System'. Initially, Bitcoin was only of interest to a small group of enthusiasts who treated it as a curiosity.

Current knowledge of the Nakamoto character

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym of the man, woman or even the entire team that had been creating BTC since 2007. He launched the network and dug up the first ‘Genesis’ block on 3 January 2009 and actively worked on the development of the network until around 2011, when he disappeared. On 23 April 2011, he wrote to programmer Mike Hearn that he had ‘taken care of other things’. An on-chain analysis estimated Satoshi's wealth to be between 750 and 1.1 million BTC, which would make him one of the richest people in the world. 

Persons suspected of being Satoshi Nakamoto

There have been several figures in the crypto industry so far who have either claimed to be Satoshi or have been suspected of doing so by the community. 

Craig Wright

He is an Australian academic who has repeatedly claimed to be Satoshi. Wright is a figure very widely involved in IT work and was an early user of Bitcoin. His company also has a huge fortune just in this particular cryptocurrency. Rumours of him being the creator of BTC began to spread when Wired and Gizmodo magazines began writing about such allegations, later fuelled by Craig. However, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding this figure both in terms of his academic titles and the evidence he has presented to support his thesis, which indicates that this figure is not the creator of Bitcoin. 

Hal Finney

The story is different in the case of Hal Finney, who was suspected of being Satoshi but denied it. Hal is the programmer who was the first to receive a BTC transaction. Instead, it has been proven that he is not the creator of Bitcoin, as it has been clearly shown that while the real Nakamoto was sending emails and digging up the first block, Mike was taking part in a 10-mile run, which is documented by photos. 

Dorian Nakamoto

For some time, a Californian academic - Dorian Nakamoto - was also suspected of being the creator of Bitcoin. This was once reported by Newsweek magazine, but an investigation ruled out this theory. The supposition was based on rather prosaic reasons, which were a surname identical to a pseudonym, a place of residence near Hal Finney in California or being a libertarian who shared the ideas of opposing the system of the time. Also worth mentioning is a post on the P2P Foundation forum that shared Satoshi Nakamoto's real account. It denied that Dorian was Satoshi. The scientist himself also negated this theory. 

Nick Szabo

The latest figure suspected of being the creator of Bitcoin is Nick Szabo, a computer scientist and cryptographer who in 2005 described the concept of 'BitGold', a digital currency that would be independent of intermediaries. However, it was never implemented. Szabo was suspected to be the father of Bitcoin for reasons such as similarity in code writing style to Satoshi. Nick denies being this character. 

Satoshi's identity is still a mystery

The world continues to speculate on who Nakamoto may be. He may mask his identity for various reasons, such as to protect his wealth. Perhaps one day Satoshi will decide to reveal his identity. It will certainly then be one of the most widely publicised events in the industry, which will strongly affect the market.