Will the real inventor of Bitcoin please come forward?

Bitcoin underpins a $2 trillion cryptocurrency industry and is now traded by the world’s largest investment firms, even a country’s official currency.

Despite its meteoric rise, a deep mystery remains at its core: What is the true identity of its founder, the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto?

Many people have tried to answer this question but so far have failed. October, one High-profile HBO documentary It is suggested that a Canadian Bitcoin expert named Peter Todd is him. The only problem is: he says he’s not, and the crypto world is largely dismissive.

So when news broke on Thursday that Bitcoin’s mysterious creator would finally be unveiled at a press conference, our newsrooms and the entire crypto world inevitably pricked up their ears.

People are interested in Satoshi Nakamoto in part because they are considered a revolutionary programmer who helped spawn the cryptocurrency industry.

Their voices, perspectives and worldviews will have a huge impact on an industry with such a loyal and passionate fan base.

But the fascination also stems from the fact that as the holder of over a million Bitcoins, Satoshi Nakamoto would become a billionaire, especially since the price of Bitcoin is currently near an all-time high.

Given such vast wealth, it was somewhat unusual that the organizer of Thursday’s press conference asked me to pay for my seat at his grand unveiling.

Front row seats cost £100. If I wanted unlimited issues it would have been an additional £50. Organizer Charles Anderson even encouraged me to pay £500 for the privilege of interviewing Satoshi Nakamoto on stage.

I refused.

Mr. Anderson said I could come any way, but he warned there might not be a seat for me, and that was the extent of the expectation.

In fact, seating is not an issue.

Only about a dozen reporters arrived at the prestigious Front Club, which at one point interrupted proceedings to stress that it had only provided a room and was not offering any official recognition.

It soon became apparent that everyone in attendance was highly skeptical.

After some digging, it emerged that both the organizers and the alleged Satoshi Nakamoto are currently embroiled in a complex legal battle over fraud charges – charges related to claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto.

It was a hopeless start and things only got worse from there.

Mr. Anderson invited “Satoshi Nakamoto” to the stage.

Stephen Mollah, who had been sitting silently on the sidelines, stepped forward and firmly declared: “I am here to make a statement, yes: I am Satoshi Nakamoto and I created Bitcoin on blockchain technology. currency.”

Over the next hour, reporters went from amused to outraged as he failed to provide any of the promised evidence to back up his claims.

Mr. Mollah promised that he would perform a Hail Mary move and unlock and interact with the first-ever Bitcoin—something only Satoshi Nakamoto could do.

But he didn’t.

I left, along with other bewildered journalists, with the lingering suspicion that this would be another dead end in uncovering Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity.

The list of people who have not been successfully identified as Satoshi Nakamoto is long.

In 2014, Newsweek published a high-profile article identifying the killer as Dorian Nakamoto, a Japanese-American living in California.

But he denied that claim and it has been largely debunked.

A year later, Australian computer scientist Craig Wright was revealed as Satoshi Nakamoto by journalists.

He denied this, then said it was true but failed to provide any evidence for years.

in spring London High Court ruled Mr. Wright is not the inventor.

Tech billionaire and cryptocurrency enthusiast Elon Musk has also denied being behind cryptocurrencies after a former employee of his company SpaceX made the claim.

Which brings us to the question: does it really matter?

The current valuation of the cryptocurrency market means it is worth more than Google. It would seem unimaginable that a tech giant would play such an important role in our lives if people didn’t know who founded it and own a sizable portion of the company.

Perhaps the real Satoshi remained silent for a good reason. The Bitcoin stash would put their value at an estimated $69 billion, and if discovered, their lives and characters would undoubtedly come under intense scrutiny.

Peter Todd, dubbed “Satoshi Nakamoto” in the HBO documentary, said the unwanted attention he received made him fear for his safety.

Many in the crypto world are happy that the mystery remains unsolved.

“No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is, and that’s a good thing,” Adam Back, one of its core developers (and another potential Satoshi candidate), recently posted on X.

Bitcoin podcaster Natalie Brunell believes Satoshi Nakamoto’s anonymity was not only intentional, but necessary.

“By hiding his true identity, Satoshi Nakamoto ensured that Bitcoin would not have a leader or central figure whose personal agenda could influence the protocol,” she told me.

“This allows people to trust Bitcoin as a system rather than trusting individuals or companies.”

Carol Alexander, a finance professor at the University of Sussex who teaches the history of Bitcoin, is less sure.

In her view, the circus surrounding who Satoshi Nakamoto is distracts from the more serious question of how cryptocurrencies can disrupt the way the economy works.

As I left Frontline Club, it was difficult to make sense of this strange news event except for one obvious fact.

Now—and perhaps forever—the search for Satoshi Nakamoto continues.