Who was the creator of Bitcoin? Officially, the online currency that's been in the news a lot lately was first created by a person named "Satoshi Nakamoto" in 2009, but until this week most people believed that name was a pseudonym for another person, or possibly for a group. Now Newsweek is reporting that it has located Bitcoin's creator and his name happens to be Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto.
Newsweek's article is also the cover story for the first print edition of the relaunched weekly news magazine; the publication previously ceased its print operations in December 2012. The story claims that the 64 year old Japanese man it found in the California mountains is indeed the person who came up with Bitcoin.
But is that really true? Newsweek's story quotes Nakamoto as saying, "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it." That would seem to imply he did have a hand in creating Bitcoin. However, in a new interview he has since given to the Associated Press, Nakamoto has denied any involvement with creating the currency. Indeed, the former engineer says he had never even heard of Bitcoin until three weeks ago, when his son told him Newsweek was trying to contact him.
Nakamoto also denied the meaning of the quote that Newsweek attributed to him, saying that what he meant what that he was no longer involved in engineering. He added, "It sounded like I was involved before with Bitcoin and looked like I'm not involved now. That's not what I meant." The AP story even says Nakamoto mispronounced Bitcoin a number of times during their interview, calling it "Bitcom."
The author of the Newsweek story, Leah McGrath Goodman, stands by the content of the original article and the brief exchange with Nakamoto, saying, "There was no confusion whatsoever about the context of our conversation and his acknowledgment of his involvement in Bitcoin."
All very mysterious indeed!
Source: Newsweek and AP via Yahoo | Bitcoin image via Shutterstock
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