zlacker

There's a somewhat credible theory that the inventor of bitcoin is dead now. That could explain why his bitcoins are untouched and why he doesn't emerge to claim credit for his invention.

>>chango+(OP)
By the same token (no pun) the inventor might not have been alive in the first place, at least not as a singular individual. Individuals sitting on billions find it very hard to keep quiet about it.

>>chango+(OP)
Even if he is alive the lottery curse is probably good enough reason to never claim them now.

When the coins were only worth a few million he could've cashed out then but now he's just in for permanent trouble.

>>chango+(OP)
It's definitely possible. But one could think of plenty of other hypotheses for why they're unmoved and why he hasn't taken credit.

In my opinion, there was a real (but vague) clue to his identity that was not a red herring: the IP leak in the debug logs he sent to Hal Finney. He used Tor most of the time but briefly slipped up and likely divulged his real, residential IP address. If that's the case, then he was living in California, possibly around the LA area, as of January 2009.

https://whoissatoshi.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/satoshi-in-cal...

>>gizajo+j
I'd personally bet money on it being a solo project from him (until he open sourced it). I never saw compelling evidence for the collective theory.

If you dig through all of his forum posts, emails, and code, it's entirely consistent with a solo dev reading a bunch of papers, combining ideas (digital currency + hashcash), iterating on some software, and interacting with his community.

>>meowfa+X3
You’re correct. I’m not really denying any evidence, just there remain a bunch of mysteries around Satoshi’s identity, that all we can do is say “it could be this OR it could be this OR this could have happened OR they could have been this”. One can “or” oneself all day long in the face of a mystery or a paradox.

>>meowfa+H
how is that a clue, given the best theory anyone has is that Hal Finney himself was Satoshi?

>>lesuor+q
Well, whatever the process is to cash out coins you mined could be used I assume? Such a person could likely afford top legal talent. Also, lotteries in many states require you to claim with your real name. A corporation could be used for bitcoin.

>>wombat+Tf
Corporations hiding a name only obscures it from the general population. Kind of like how your social security number is private.

Sophisticated criminals who actually are interested in targeting you can play your shell game until they figure out who you are.

>>banana+de
Because that's not the best theory anyone has.