Who created Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, remains a mystery even after 15 years. Recently, an investigation report by the New York Times claimed that British cryptographer Adam Back is ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’. However, Adam Back has rejected these claims. AI detected writing style NYT journalist John Carreyrou used AI to search for Satoshi. He fed thousands of emails sent to cryptography groups between 1992 and 2008 into an AI tool. The AI found that Satoshi’s writing style, word choice, and grammatical errors were very similar to Adam Back’s. For example, Satoshi often did not use hyphens (-) between compound words and sometimes made mistakes in the use of “its” and “it’s”. These things matched Adam Back’s writing. 3 reasons Adam back could be Satoshi Hashcash: Adam created ‘Hashcash’, which Satoshi used in Bitcoin mining. Hashcash is a ‘proof-of-work’ system, which was created to prevent email spam. Later, this technology was used in cryptocurrency. Blockstream: Adam is the CEO of Blockstream, which works on blockchain infrastructure. Blockchain is a technology where recorded information cannot be changed or deleted by a single person. It resides on all computers in the network instead of a single server. Adam also believes that he is at the top of the list of suspects. He told an American journalist that Satoshi could also be a British ‘cypherpunk’ around 50 years old, just like him. Adam Back said- ‘It’s just a coincidence’ After the New York Times report came out, Adam Back said that the similarities caught by AI were merely a coincidence. According to him, people in the same field and with similar interests often use similar language and words. He denied being the creator of Bitcoin. Investigation started with 34 thousand people, only one name remained in the end John Carreyrou enlisted the help of AI team journalist Dylan Freedman to analyze Satoshi’s writing style. Carreyrou believed that Satoshi was a member of the cryptography community associated with the ‘Cypherpunk’, ‘Cryptography’, and ‘Hashcash’ mailing lists. He decided to collect the archives of these three lists and merge them into a large database so that anything could be searched within them. Between 1992 and October 30, 2008 (one day before Satoshi’s emergence), more than 34,000 users had posted on these three lists. After removing spammers, the number dropped to 1,615 Among the 34 thousand, there were many spammers or people who had posted only a few times, so those with fewer than 10 posts were excluded. This reduced the number of potential names to 1,615. Removing those who did not discuss digital money left 620 people. Those who had never discussed digital money were also removed. After this, a small group of 620 candidates remained. These 620 people together had written a total of 134,308 posts. Adam Back topped the investigation of synonymous words Now, words in Satoshi’s written text that had no synonyms were identified. It was measured which of the 620 suspects used those words the most. Adam Back came out on top, with 521 ‘non-synonymous’ words matching Satoshi’s. There were some others, but all of them had written many more posts than Back. In search of solid evidence, two more methods were adopted 1. Back also topped the investigation of hyphen usage First, Satoshi’s grammar, especially the misuse of hyphens (-), was meticulously examined. This identified 325 distinct errors made by Satoshi in the use of hyphens. When these errors were compared with the writings of the suspects, 67 of Back’s hyphen errors perfectly matched Satoshi’s errors. The person in second place had only 38 matching errors. 2. Back also topped the list in writing style analysis Returning to the 620 suspects, an investigation was conducted to see how many had a writing style similar to Satoshi’s. After examining for two spaces between sentences, like Satoshi, 562 suspects remained. In the final check, only one name remained: Adam Back Satoshi had a peculiar habit – he would sometimes write “email” and sometimes “e-mail”, sometimes the British spelling “cheque” and sometimes the American “check”. After this filter, only one name remained in the end: Adam Back. Satoshi Nakamoto has been searched for since 2008 The creator of Bitcoin released Bitcoin’s whitepaper in 2008 under the name ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’. He gave the world the first cryptocurrency, but never came forward. If The New York Times’ theory is correct, then a British citizen using a Japanese name still remains a question. Although Carreyrou’s investigation did not conclude with concrete evidence, his method of searching for Satoshi using AI is being discussed in the tech world. Knowledge part: What are Cypherpunk and Satoshi Nakamoto?
