Who is Satoshi Nakamoto ? Mystery of the Bitcoin inventor whose identity remains a secret and could be one of the world’s richest men

THE shadowy creator of Bitcoin remains a mystery as the digital currency furiously multiples in value becoming the world's most controversial payment system.

But while the identity of the legendary Satoshi Nakamoto - the author of a 2008 white paper describing the cryptocurrency - remains unconfirmed, the search to unmask him is colourful to say the least.
If Nakamoto, which many experts believe is a pseudonym, does exist, he could be the world’s richest person considering how much the value of Bitcoin has skyrocketed.

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

The mystery will take us from the Land of the Rising Sun all the way across the world to a small Californian town named Temple City and then back across the Pacific Ocean to an Australian doctor.

The now iconic white paper, which was published on networking P2P Foundation, said the elusive Nakamoto lived in Japan and was born in 1975.

But when the world's media thought they had found their Satoshi Nakamoto in 2014 - he was a computer engineer living in Temple City in Los Angeles County.

And while the Japanese-American man, named Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, firmly denied he was the shadowy force behind the infamous cryptocurrency - the plot continued to thicken.

It soon emerged that computer scientist Hal Finney, who was the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction, lived a "few blocks" from the seemingly-oblivious Nakamoto.

Nakamoto firmly denied he was the currency's creator claiming he had never even heard of Bitcoin before

Forbes journalist Andy Greenberg attempted to interview Finney at his home - despite him battling terminal disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which rendered the crypto-community enthusiast "locked" into his body and unable to speak or move his muscles.

Greenberg believes Finney, who appeared amused when the journalist asked if he knew Nakamoto, was either the ghostwriter for the Bitcoin creator or simply used his neighbour's name as a moniker.

But that's not all. Finney also knew “decentralised currency enthusiast” and scientist Nick Szabo who penned a paper on "bit gold" way back in 1998 and was said to be a fan of pseudonyms.

Szabo also confirmed in 2011 that only he, Finney or Wei Dai - creator of Bitcoin precurser B-Money - could have been responsible for the digital currency.

In 2013, financial author Dominic Frisby suggested that Szabo penned the 2008 white paper and even appeared on television discussing his claims.

Aussie businessman Craig Wright, pictured, claims he is the creator of Bitcoin

But Szabo emailed Frisby, writing: “Thanks for letting me know. I'm afraid you got it wrong doxing me as Satoshi, but I'm used to it.”

The other best known Nakamoto-suspect is Australian computer scientist and businessman Craig Wright.

But unlike the other leading contenders, Wright actually claims he is Nakamoto and in 2016 provided technical "proof" to the BBC, The Economist and GQ.

This consisted of a demonstration of the verification process used in the very first Bitcoin transaction.

But The Economist claims "such demonstrations can be stage-managed” and reported Wright refused to make the proof public and to provide other assurances.

He then posted an apology on his blog stating that he no longer had the “courage” to continue the process of proving his identity.

Wright subsequently appeared in Netflix documentary Banking on Bitcoin and once again claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto in what he said would be his final filmed interview.

Following the Wright speculation the Bitcoin Core Project – an open source project which “releases Bitcoin client software” – tweeted their own scepticism around the issue in May 2016.

The project posted: “There is currently no publicly available cryptographic proof that anyone in particular is Bitcoin's creator.”