This man has revealed himself as the secret inventor of Bitcoin
An Australian man named Craig Wright has come forward claiming to be the inventor of Bitcoin, who has before now been known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
The entrepreneur has outed himself as the creator of the cryptocurrency to three news outlets – the BBC, The Economist and GQ.
Wright claims to have cryptographic proof that he is the inventor of Bitcoin, months after he was outed as such in several publications late last year.
According to the BBC, Wright provided proof of his role in founding the cryptocurrency by signing messages with cryptographic keys used in the early days of Bitcoin which are known to be associated with Nakamoto. He told the BBC: "I was the main part of it, but other people helped me."
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Wright said he was forced to reveal his identity after media attempted to prove his links to being Bitcoin's founder and that he does not plan to become a figurehead for the currency.
In the past several weeks there had been talk of Nakamoto being unmasked. The Economist, one of the three publications which has for weeks been in the loop on the big reveal and which has seen the proof Wright was asked to provide to prove his status as founder, is more reserved in its judgement.
"Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain. Indeed, it may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin."
Wright is an IT and cyber security consultant originally from Brisbane and the 45-year-old is currently living in London. He has also detailed the process of verifying a set of cryptographic keys in a blog post.
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Gavin Andresen, the Bitcoin Foundation's chief scientist who had communicated with Nakamoto in the early days of Bitcoin's creation, has said he is "convinced beyond a reasonable doubt" that Wright is Nakamoto.
"I believe Craig Steven Wright is the person who invented Bitcoin," said Andresen in a blog post, having been in touch with him via email and after meeting in person.
While Nakamoto has not been directly involved in the development of Bitcoin or blockchain, the technology which underpins it and which is increasingly gaining attention among the world's biggest financial institutions, since 2011, Wright's claim to be the father of Bitcoin would, if true, put to rest the long-standing mystery surrounding its founding.