Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym used by the person — or group — who created Bitcoin. On October 31, 2008, Satoshi published the whitepaper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” to the metzdowd cryptography mailing list, and on January 3, 2009 mined the Genesis Block, bringing the Bitcoin network to life.
Timeline of Satoshi's public activity
- 2008-10-31
- Published the Bitcoin whitepaper
- 2009-01-03
- Mined the Genesis Block (block #0)
- 2009-01-09
- Released Bitcoin v0.1; first transaction with Hal Finney
- 2010-12-12
- Last public forum post
- 2011-04-23
- Last known email: “I've moved on to other things”
Estimates of early Bitcoin mining
Some chain analyses attribute a large amount of early P2PKH mining to Satoshi, but the exact figure and attribution are debated. Public blockchain data cannot prove that one person controlled every address in an estimate. The famous genesis address 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa is separate from those estimates, and its historical association does not prove who controlled its private keys.
The identity that remains unknown
Many candidates have been proposed over the years — Hal Finney, Nick Szabo, Adam Back and others — all denied or unsupported by evidence. Craig Wright's claims of being Satoshi have been rejected in court. Whoever Satoshi was, they chose to disappear rather than lead a movement, leaving Bitcoin to grow on its own.
The genesis address has become the place where the community says thank you.
View the Genesis Address →