back to article Newsweek knocks on door of dad-of-six, tells him he invented Bitcoin

The mysterious inventor of Bitcoin is a middle-aged Japanese-American family man named Satoshi Nakamoto, Newsweek has breathlessly alleged. In a cover story for the magazine's print relaunch today, reporter Leah McGrath Goodman claimed she found the crypto-currency's mastermind living in Temple City in Los Angeles County, …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    there you go

    a number of interesting facts that strengthen the argument that this Nakamoto is the real deal, namely that he is very good at mathematics, has worked for murky government agencies

    Clearly bitcoin is the work of the government as a way of providing crims with a dodgy "currency" to accept as payment that they will think gives them anonymity when in fact the opposite is true and helps the government keep tabs on them. All these

    Federal

    bitcoin

    Interchanges

    Have possibly served their purpose which is why so many are going pop in such a short space of time because the government have got what they need from them? Now the bitcoins aren't worth the time or money to mine and they know the bulk of the depositors and what they own it is time to shut up shop and move in on the people using it illegally?

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: there you go

      oh dear. go away paranioa troll.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: there you go

      I always assumed it was an elaborate test of sha256 as even a little bit of weakening would show up as a significant step in the aggregate hash rate. And with sufficient resources and insight into the flow of real cash you could probably figure out who it was that did it. Evens on the NSA were behind it from the start.

    3. Havin_it
      Holmes

      Re: there you go

      Okay, I call your conspiracy theory and raise you:

      >dodgy "currency"

      >dogy currency

      >doge currency

      >dogecoin

      Wow. So astroturf. Many subversion. Much bitter. Wow.

  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    is believed to have some $400m in wealth as a consequence of the currency's rise

    Of course only in a bizarre sense...

    The differential equation to ascertain the bitcoin <-> dollar transformation at the behest of the current bitcoin owner has to be solved, as it will lower the bitcoin value, and marginally increase the dollar value.

    libertarian

    Expect the known suspect to drop the contents of their guts in a messy fashion and start linking him to the Koch Brothers, gun owners, Paul Rand and the Anti-Chomsky.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      What? Commentards who don't like differential equations?

      SOD OFF, DIRTY PEASANTS!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So Satoshi isn't a cryptographer or mathematician but a software engineer working in aviation. Makes sense to me. Also, obviously a smart bloke using his real name as his forum name.

    Wonder if an excitable journalist added two and two and got C0 CE FE 84 C2 27 F7 5B D0.......

  4. Anonymous Vulture
    Stop

    The American press strikes again

    I am not sure what the public interest in this story is - it was far more entertaining to speculate about the identity of creator, particularly since he or she had made it clear they had not developed the bitcoin protocol for fame, although perhaps for fortune.

    Regardless, the public outing of the creator does potentially put him and his family in danger either from physical threats or knowing the legal system, legal threats related to the crash of various exchanges. A good tactic in lawsuits is naming everyone even remotely involved in an issue just to see what you can find in discovery, or to try and force a settlement.

    If an inventor wants to remain anonymous and has created something people find of value, that is certainly fine with me and I respect that. I wish more people would, particularly the press. But it is probably easier to research a single individual than to do hard reporting on government corruption or overreach, just to make two examples.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: The American press strikes again

      What makes you think Newsweek is into the "public interest" of anything?

    2. Keep Refrigerated

      Re: The American press strikes again

      "I am not sure what the public interest in this story is..."

      And yet here we are, the public, commenting on the story. And El Reg, which has ads to shift, printing, nay, regurgitating it.

      1. Raumkraut

        Re: The American press strikes again

        > And yet here we are, the public, commenting on the story.

        There's a difference between "in the public interest" and "interesting to the public".

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Re: The American press strikes again

          Yes.

          "in the public interest" ==> pages of boring text and references to legalese that you better read through to know how you are currently getting shafted

          "interesting to the public" ==> glossy photographs of naked flesh

    3. Charles Manning

      " something people find of value,"

      There's nothing like a good old fashion witch hunt to bring in the crowds.

      Not all people find BC "of value" particularly those who remortgaged their houses and bought in at $1200 because their thinking was that BC must go up by another order of magnitude or such.

      Like the people caught out by the sub-prime mortgage bubble, they were already surfing Bayliner.com looking at boats but now they have a huge hole in their finances. They cannot face the truth: that their greed wiped them out. No, they want someone to blame.

      1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

        Re: " something people find of value,"

        "Those who remortgaged their houses and bought in at $1200 because their thinking was that BC must go up by another order of magnitude or such." Are what's general known as complete idiots.

  5. Eddy Ito
    Unhappy

    Newsweak - Newspeak

    Reading the piece it seems clear that the "journalist" who wrote it was intent on harassing the guy and the article is merely a venue to exact revenge for not talking to her. After all, she spent two months stalking this guy, how dare he not capitulate and give her an exclusive.

    Why is it that so many "journalists" such as her are such hemorrhoids?

    1. Anonymous Coward 101

      Re: Newsweak - Newspeak

      The journalist was sniffing around the island of Jersey because of alleged financial malfeasance and, more bizarrely, supposedly murdered children at the now infamous Haut la Garenne childrens home. I know from my reading on this matter that this is abject bollocks, and made me question her wisdom.

      http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/01/17/jersey-taxes.html

      1. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        Re: Newsweak - Newspeak

        "The journalist was sniffing around the Haut la Garenne childrens home, Jersey "

        So now we know where all the News Of The World reporters went to.

  6. ecofeco Silver badge

    A deabte if they have endangerd him?

    Is this a joke? Of course they did!

    Anyone even slightly famous will receive death threats and people who will track them down and try to hurt or kill them... for no reason what-so-ever except that they are somewhat famous.

    The world is full of psychopaths.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A deabte if they have endangerd him?

      Or someone coming to his house and threatening to kill his family unless he transfers his $400 milllon in bitcoins to them.

    2. Mark 85

      Re: A deabte if they have endangerd him?

      More likely, there will suddenly be 500 long lost relatives showing up looking for a bit of money.

      1. TheRealRoland

        Re: A deabte if they have endangerd him?

        a bitcoin, you mean?

        1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

          Re: A deabte if they have endangerd him?

          You're right they have put him in all sorts of danger and there's no debate about that at all. What will be interesting will be whether or not he decides to sue. Wouldn't be a good start to their relaunched print edition if this guy gets into them for a few million.

          The worst bit about the story is not so much that they credit him with the invention of Bitcoin with very little credible evidence, it's that from that they make the leap to a personal fortune of $400M based on absolutely no evidence at all.

          1. Tom 13

            Re: Wouldn't be a good start to their relaunched print edition

            There's one small problem with that theory.

            Regardless of whether or not this is the guy who invented Bitcoin, so long as the rest of the information about him is correct, he seems like the sort of chap who can do his sums. Now that sort of person is likely to do the sums on launching the case. Given Newsleak's prior record, and the fact that they are currently a start-up, it doesn't seem likely they have the million to begin with. So the only effect of launching the lawsuit would be to deplete this guys savings account. And that's assuming he wins the case. Sadly, on this side of the pond the courts seem to be more like a roulette wheel in a gambling house than a system designed to produce just outcomes.

    3. Vociferous

      Re: A deabte if they have endangerd him?

      > Of course they did!

      Really? You think so? A guy who knows the inner workings of a shady currency mainly used by conspiratards and gangsters, and who has an estimated 400 million dollars in untraceable money on a laptop or thumbdrive in his house -- endangered by having his dox posted?

  7. hapticz

    respectfully encrypted

    im surprised Facebook or Google didn't offer satoshi some nice real money for this, say a few ill gotten billion bucks. (derived from their own 'derivatives' methods). oh well, maybe this creation was only 'testing the waters', until the cpu crunchers can spirit everyone into a virtual banking system that leaves nothing behind.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: respectfully encrypted

      How does your post make sense?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: respectfully encrypted

      Wow. You just got Destroy All Monsters saying YOU don't make sense. Truly gifted, you must be.

  8. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Meh

    Note he doesn't actually say he's the man.

    Just that he was involved in bitcoin (at some point).

    1. Piro Silver badge

      Re: Note he doesn't actually say he's the man.

      His suspicious behaviour and calling of the police and complete avoidance at a mention of Bitcoin, and the fact he's called Satoshi Nakamoto, make it highly likely he's the guy.

      I just don't get why finding the guy was key. Leave the bloke alone.

  9. Johan Bastiaansen
    FAIL

    So he used his real name . . .

    But nobody could find him?

    Because he wasn't in the telephone-book?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So he used his real name . . .

      don't let the title 'investigative journalist' fool you, if it hasn't been published on wikipedia, they're not aware of it.

  10. Vociferous

    The crator of bitcoin is a weeabo.

    Well, then at least something makes sense about this "currency".

    1. Piro Silver badge

      Re: More death throws of a zombie business model

      How does that make sense? He actually is Japanese, so how can he be a wannabe Japanese?

      1. Vociferous

        Re: More death throws of a zombie business model

        Damn. Then it's back to not making any sense at all again.

    2. Eddy Ito

      Re: The crator[sic] of bitcoin is a weeabo.

      Such a wannabe that he changed his name to append Dorian Prentice on the front. Japanophobia much?

  11. James Haley 2
    FAIL

    Trolled?

    Just a theory, based on nothing but an impression while reading the story: Newsweek got trolled.

    The details just seem a *too* stereotypical...

  12. Gordon Pryra

    Poor Guy

    If I had invetnted the algorithms used in a currency used by the Worlds worst people. I REALLY would not want this information public.

    How many people who would not give a second thourght to torturing someone for 50 quid would think he knows backdoors in the system?

  13. Grease Monkey Silver badge

    He's got $400M yet he lives in a pretty ordinary house in a pretty ordinary area? Makes perfect sense.

    Basically when it comes to investigative journalism the new Newsweek seem to have no skills at all. They don't seem to have any hard evidence that links this guy to the creation of Bitcoin. All they've got is that he used to be in engineering and he shares a name with the alleged inventor. Well there you go, that clinches it.

    1. Gav

      Values

      He's got $400M in bitcoins and any attempt to convert that to dollars or property would almost certainly reveal his identity.

      He may value his privacy/security higher than that. Some people aren't cash driven.

      1. Vociferous

        Re: Values

        > any attempt to convert that to dollars or property would almost certainly reveal his identity.

        How?

        > I'd probably try to keep a low profile too

        Security through obscurity is so very bitcoiny.

    2. Tom 13

      @ Grease Monkey

      If I could anonymously accumulate that much money, I'd probably try to keep a low profile too. Better protection than being visible with a boatload of gorillas protecting me.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like