The New York Times published a comprehensive investigation claiming that the pseudonym of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is actually 55-year-old British programmer
and cryptographer Dr. Adam Back. Deanonymizing this identity could have a colossal impact on the markets, according to Yahoo Finance.
The figure of Bitcoin's creator is of enormous significance for the entire crypto market, with a market capitalization of $2.4 trillion. The main problem is that the mysterious creator controls wallets holding 1.1 million bitcoins (worth approximately $75 billion at the current exchange rate). This is approximately 44% more than MicroStrategy, the world's largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.
Dr. Adam Back
Even beyond his involvement in the creation of Bitcoin, Adam Back's contribution to the development of digital assets is invaluable. In 1997, he invented the Hashcash spam filtering system. The underlying proof-of-work algorithm defined the course of cryptographic research for a decade and became the cornerstone that allowed Bitcoin to thrive after years of failed attempts to create digital money.
The investigation was authored by John Carreyrou, a legendary investigative journalist known for exposing the healthcare startup Theranos. Partnering with AI expert Dylan Friedman, they analyzed a dataset, including hundreds of Satoshi emails recently published by Finnish programmer Martti Malmi as part of a lawsuit.
Using artificial intelligence, the journalists compared these texts with correspondence from three major cypherpunk mailing lists spanning decades. In all three stylometry tests, Adam Back's texts were found to be the closest match to Satoshi's style.
Carreyrou's interest in Back was sparked after watching an HBO documentary about the search for Satoshi. The journalist was captivated by the cryptographer's on-camera behavior.
"Having seen my share of liars and developed some experience in recognizing their habits, I found Mr. Back's behavior—his shifty eyes, awkward laughter, and the twitching movements of his left hand—suspicious. As the credits rolled, I replayed the scene several times on my TV," Carreyrou wrote.
Adam Back himself categorically rejected the journalist's conclusions.
The publication came at an extremely sensitive time for Back. He is currently the CEO of Blockstream, which holds over 30,000 bitcoins. Blockstream is currently preparing to go public through a reverse merger with a company controlled by financial giant Cantor Fitzgerald.
The completion date for this deal has been repeatedly delayed and is now expected by the end of the second quarter of 2026. The investigation poses a legal challenge for Back.
Under US securities laws, the CEO of a company going public is required to disclose any information material to investors. Carreyrou admits he was unaware of this legal nuance when interviewing a "mysteriously nervous" Beck.
"A secret stash of 1.1 million coins, which, if suddenly sold, could crash the Bitcoin market, would likely be considered material information," the publication concludes.
If US regulators take the paper's findings seriously, Beck's company's IPO could be jeopardized, and the cryptographer himself could face the prospect of multi-billion-dollar lawsuits for concealing information.