The New York Times, after an investigation lasting over a year, revealed the identity of the person believed to be the creator of the cryptocurrency 'Bitcoin,' pointing to British cryptography expert Adam Back as the individual closest to the pseudonym 'Satoshi Nakamoto.' However, Back swiftly and categorically denied these claims. According to the report by journalist John Carreiro, known for his investigative work, the newspaper relied on an extensive analysis of writing style that covered over 134,000 posts on three specialized cryptography mailing lists between 1992 and 2008. Three independent analyses concluded that Back is stylistically the closest to 'Satoshi,' with a striking match in writing patterns, including hundreds of similar errors. The report also noted a notable temporal pattern: 'Satoshi's' announcement about 'Bitcoin' coincided with a decline in Back's activity on forums, before he reappeared after 'Satoshi's' disappearance in 2011. In response, Back refuted these conclusions in a statement to the BBC and on the X platform, asserting: 'I am not Satoshi, but I was one of the first to be interested in the positive impacts of cryptography, privacy, and electronic money.' The investigation also indicated that Back had discussed most of the core ideas underlying 'Bitcoin,' such as decentralized digital money, in the 1990s, about a decade before the currency's white paper was published in 2008. He also scoffed at the idea of him holding a vast fortune in 'Bitcoins,' pointing out that he 'regrets not mining intensely in 2009.' In this context, the BBC report described the case as 'one of the most mysterious and secret puzzles on the internet,' not only due to the difficulty in identifying the individual but also because the person or entity involved vanished completely without leaving any verifiable, conclusive evidence. Back argued that the high volume of his participation in 'cryptography activist' mailing lists makes his appearance in any statistical analysis natural, rejecting the link between his periods of activity and 'Satoshi's' disappearance.
