The author of "The Mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto" warns: Stop searching for Satoshi Nakamoto, revealing the truth will destroy Bitcoin.

In “The Mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto,” author Benjamin Wallace travels around the world, from Bitcoin meetups in Midtown Manhattan, to bungalows in Australia, and to body freezing facilities in Arizona. After 15 years of investigative journalism, his final conclusion is that revealing Satoshi Nakamoto's identity could only harm the market capitalization of Bitcoin, valued at $2.24 trillion.

Satoshi Nakamoto candidate list, Finney and Szabo are the biggest suspects

(Source: Statue of Satoshi)

Amateur Satoshi Nakamoto researchers may be familiar with some of the content, while Wallace spent a considerable amount of time analyzing and contemplating common suspects, but he did not arrive at any definitive conclusions. One of them is the late Hal Finney, an American computer scientist who received the first Bitcoin transaction in history. However, what Wallace recounts is not just this well-known story—indeed, before a rare neurodegenerative disease took Finney's life in 2014, he had chatted with this legendary Bitcoin enthusiast via email, after which Finney was cryonically preserved.

Finney and his family repeatedly deny that he is the mastermind behind Bitcoin. Finney's body is currently cryogenically frozen, awaiting the day when doctors can revive him. Perhaps we will meet him again then. This sci-fi ending adds an extra layer of mystery to Finney's story. Finney was one of the earliest supporters of Bitcoin, and his email correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto, technical contributions, and philosophical ideas are all highly aligned with the design of Bitcoin.

After Wallace introduced another famous computer scientist and blockchain pioneer Nick Szabo, the pace of the book accelerated. Szabo received extensive coverage for his “Bit Gold” proposal put forward in 1998. This proposal is widely regarded as a precursor to Bitcoin, but strangely, Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper almost deliberately ignored this fact. Satoshi later acknowledged Szabo's Bit Gold proposal in a forum post.

“In Hungary, Nick's name is Szabo Nikolas, while in Japan it is Szaboshi Nickamoto.” This wordplay adds an element of fun to Szabo as a candidate for Satoshi Nakamoto. Szabo's technical background, knowledge of cryptography, and long-term research into decentralized currency make him one of the most compelling candidates. However, Szabo himself has publicly denied this multiple times, stating that if he were indeed Satoshi, he would openly acknowledge it and not hide it.

Wallace also mentioned countless other names—so many that by the time I finished reading the book, I still held a glimmer of hope that perhaps he had unknowingly found the answer, and that Satoshi Nakamoto's true name was hidden within its pages. This narrative technique adds an element of suspense to the reading experience, but also reflects the real dilemma in Satoshi Nakamoto's investigation: too many clues, too little concrete evidence.

Satoshi Nakamoto Main Candidate List:

Hal Finney: Received the first Bitcoin transaction, technical capabilities matched, but family denies.

Nick Szabo: The author of the “Bit Gold” proposal, his name can be phonetically spelled in Japanese, but he denies it.

Dorian Nakamoto: A Japanese-American with the same name, but with an inconsistent technical background and denies it.

Craig Wright: The Australian entrepreneur claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto but cannot provide key proof.

NSA Crypto Punk: Wallace's latest suspect, a former crypto punk who later worked for the NSA.

NSA Conspiracy Theory: Is Bitcoin a Laboratory Leak?

However, Wallace told the magazine that this person might be someone we have never heard of. He said, “The process of researching this book has made me more convinced that Satoshi Nakamoto is someone we have never heard of, like a former cypherpunk who later worked for the NSA and created Bitcoin as a personal side project.” This new theory adds a layer of government conspiracy to the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto.

The connection between the NSA (National Security Agency) and Bitcoin is not entirely unfounded. In 1996, researchers at the NSA published a paper titled “How to Mint Electronic Money,” which describes technologies that bear striking similarities to Bitcoin. Additionally, the SHA-256 encryption algorithm used by Bitcoin was designed by the NSA. These coincidences provide indirect evidence of NSA's involvement in the creation of Bitcoin.

Two years ago, the author personally ventured into this field, attempting to answer a long-standing conspiracy theory: whether Bitcoin is actually a laboratory leak incident designed by the National Security Agency during one of the most turbulent economic periods in modern history. In conversations with a former NSA cryptanalyst and piecing together so-called evidence fragments, the question ultimately received the same convoluted answer that every Satoshi Nakamoto conspiracy theory enthusiast has arrived at—perhaps yes, perhaps no.

The theory of “from cypherpunk to working for the NSA” has a certain logic. The cypherpunk movement emerged in the 1990s, advocating for the use of cryptography to protect personal privacy and freedom. Many cypherpunks later moved into government agencies or tech companies. If Satoshi Nakamoto indeed has such a background, he possesses both the technical ability and philosophical motivation to create Bitcoin, as well as sufficient awareness of security to conceal his identity.

However, this theory is also questioned. If Bitcoin is truly a product or leak from the NSA, why has the government not taken action to control or shut it down in the past 15 years? On the contrary, the US government has been working to regulate and track Bitcoin transactions. This attitude is more like facing an external threat rather than an internal product.

Revealing the truth may harm 2.24 trillion dollars market capitalization

It seems that every other week, there is another newspaper investigation, documentary, or non-fiction book promising to reveal the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. After 15 years of investigative journalism, “The Mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto” has been condensed into 340 pages, but it also leaves behind unanswered questions. However, Wallace believes that the mystery has its value and “romantic charm” — if we could find out who invented Bitcoin, whatever the answer may be, it is likely to be disappointing.

“One of the things that truly astonished me when I studied similar puzzles from the past and their solutions is that the unknown often proves more interesting than the known,” Wallace told the magazine. Solving the Satoshi Nakamoto mystery in a clear way would bring me the joy of unraveling puzzles and the satisfaction of a journalist, but I always feel that the information itself might elicit skepticism from people.

Wallace indeed came to a conclusion about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. He believes that Bitcoin is now more important than Satoshi, and revealing Satoshi's identity, aside from a benevolent deity who remains in the shadows, might only harm Bitcoin, as its current market capitalization is as high as $2.24 trillion. This perspective is highly insightful, revealing the importance of the mystery of Satoshi to the value of Bitcoin.

Why revealing the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto could harm Bitcoin? The reasons are multifaceted. First, the anonymity of Satoshi Nakamoto is a core part of the decentralized narrative of Bitcoin. No founder means no centralized authority, and no one can be arrested by the government or bought off by interest groups. Bitcoin is a pure protocol, not a product of any person or organization.

Secondly, if Satoshi Nakamoto is an ordinary person, his personal flaws, political stance, or past controversies could tarnish the image of Bitcoin. If he is a product of a government agency, it could trigger a large-scale crisis of trust, leading people to question whether Bitcoin has backdoors or hidden control mechanisms. Regardless of what the answer is, it could disappoint some Bitcoin believers and even drive them away.

Third, Satoshi Nakamoto holds about 1.1 million Bitcoins (approximately $110 billion at current prices). If his identity were revealed, these Bitcoins could face the risk of legal lawsuits, inheritance disputes, or forced sales. Once 1.1 million Bitcoins enter the market, it would have a catastrophic impact on prices. Just this risk alone could cause market capitalization to evaporate by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Wallace wrote: “I still do not rule out the possibility that Satoshi Nakamoto feels frustrated because no one is willing to ask him.” This statement is both humorous and profound, suggesting that perhaps Satoshi Nakamoto is among us, but because no one has ever asked him directly, he is able to remain anonymous. Although this possibility is slim, it adds a touch of absurdity to the drama of this mystery.

Satoshi Nakamoto is the modern god representing financial freedom. Like all mythological figures, his mystery is part of his power. Unveiling this veil may satisfy our curiosity, but it could also destroy Bitcoin's most valuable asset: its purity as a leaderless entity. Perhaps, not knowing the answer is the best answer.