Key Insights
- 5 April is regarded as the birthday of Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
- The first-ever block in the Bitcoin chain was called the Genesis Block. It was mined by Nakamoto himself and contained a cryptic message.
- Over the years, many individuals have come forward to claim the Nakamoto title. Others have been suspected to be this person, but no case has ever been proven.
- Nakamoto mined around 1.1 million BTC in the early days of the network, which is now worth around $91 billion.
- More than 15 years since its creation, Bitcoin continues to be the most decentralized public network in the world.
5 April is regarded as the birthday of Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Nakamoto is expected to turn 50 years old, based on the only known birthday attributed to one of the biggest mystery personas in the digital space.
However, beyond this little curious detail, little else is known about this person.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto, why did they disappear? More importantly, how has this person’s creation reshaped the financial ecosystem as a whole?
Here are some details about the origins of Bitcoin and some facts about its creator that not many people know.
Fact 1: Nakamoto Effectively Fixed The Double-Spending Problem
Sometime in October 2008, the global financial system was in the middle of a recession.
Amid this chaos, a whitepaper surfaced on an obscure cryptography mailing list, titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.
This whitepaper proposed a decentralized form of money that didn’t rely on banks or governments to verify transactions.
The author of this document was also known as none other than Satoshi Nakamoto.
While many individuals had attempted to create cryptocurrencies before, Nakamoto’s proposal solve one of the key issues that they struggled with:
Double Spending.
The thing about digital files is that they can be duplicated. This means that all previous digital forms of money had issues with preventing users from spending the same coin twice.
Nakamoto’s solution involved a distributed ledger (which we now call a blockchain), which processed transactions through a process called proof-of-work.
Fact 2: Nakamoto Put a Hidden Message in Bitcoin’s Genesis
The first-ever block in the Bitcoin chain was called the Genesis Block.
This block was mined by Nakamoto himself on 3 January 2009, and contained a cryptic message:
“The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”
The quote was taken from a British newspaper headline, which was a critique of central banks and how it handled fiat monetary policy.
Nakamoto embedding this text into the genesis block wasn’t just a technical experiment.
It was a response to the failures of the current financial system.
Fact 3: Nakamoto’s Last Words
Many people know that Nakamoto remained active in Bitcoin’s development until 2010.
Bitcoin’s creator communicated with some of the early core Bitcoin developers through email and online forums.
Soon after this, they vanished without a trace.
However, a little-known fact is that right before pulling the disappearing act, Nakamoto sent a final message to a developer, “I’ve moved on to other things.”
Right after this, there were no more emails or public statements. Just silence until date.
This disappearance has only deepened the intrigue surrounding Bitcoin so far. Why walk away from what would eventually become a multi-trillion-dollar revolution?
Was Nakamoto afraid? Was it humility, or was the disappearance an intentional move to make sure that Bitcoin stayed decentralized?
Fact 4: Nobody Knows Who This Person Is
Over the years, many individuals have come forward to claim the Nakamoto title. Others have been suspected to be this person, but no case has ever been proven.
Interestingly, Dorian Nakamoto, a Japanese-American physicist was famously misidentified by Newsweek in 2014.
The same goes for Hal Finney, an early Bitcoin contributor who received the first-ever Bitcoin transaction from Nakamoto and lived near Dorian.
While many speculated that Finney may have been Nakamoto, he never confirmed anything until his passing in 2014.
Nick Szabo was another “suspect”, considering how he initially created a similar cryptocurrency called “Bitgold”. However, Szabo has outright denied being Satoshi.
Craig Wright, an Australian entrepreneur was never “accused” of being Nakamoto, but has claimed for years to be Bitcoin’s creator.
However, courts in the US and the UK found his evidence either lacking or falsified.
Finally, Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter has been speculated to be Nakamoto, even though there is no evidence that he ever possessed the cryptographic skills to create the cryptocurrency.

Overall, there has been zero credible evidence to support any of these theories so far.
Fact 5: Nakamoto is a Bitcoin Billionaire
According to estimates, Nakamoto mined around 1.1 million BTC in the early days of the network.
As at today’s prices, this fortune is worth around $91 billion, making Nakamoto among the richest individuals on the planet.

Yet not a single Bitcoin has been touched in nearly two decades.
Analysts believe this to be either proof of Nakamoto’s iron-clad principles, or an indication that something might have happened to them.
Bitcoin’s Code Still Holds Strong
More than 15 years since its creation, Bitcoin continues to be the most decentralized public network in the world.
Although there have been many changes to the Bitcoin codebase, the original structure remains unchanged.
Bitcoin has become more than just a currency. It is now a store of value, and a blueprint for thousands of other cryptocurrencies.
It now secures over $1.6 trillion in value globally, and has inspired an entire industry.