Satoshi Nakamoto – The Founder of Bitcoin?
Satoshi Nakamoto – The Founder of Bitcoin?
After the financial crisis of 2008, the first decentralized digital cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was launched. A mysterious developer or group of programmers by the name Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin.
Its been over a decade since Bitcoin was released, and the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is still a mystery.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
The Bitcoin whitepaper was released in 2008, and shortly after it, the genesis block was mined in January 2009. The founder of Bitcoin was listed under the alias of Satoshi Nakamoto. This pseudonymous individual claims to be of Japanese origin and declares to be born on April 5, 1975.
‘Satoshi’ in Japanese means ‘one with wise ancestry,’ and Nakamoto means ‘central source.’ The founder is rumored to be residing in Japan and is stated to have worked on Bitcoin’s active development for a year and a half before disengaging from it.
There has been some speculation about the famous cryptocurrency founder, and many have claimed to be Satoshi, while many others are suspected to be the man. It seems like the founder didn’t want to be exposed to the public eye and maintain the network’s integrity.
Satoshi Nakamoto operated from anonymous email accounts from anon mail hosting services. It is also unclear why the founder didn’t cash out his mined bitcoins worth billions of dollars. Various researchers and enthusiasts have tried to analyze the data points left by Nakamoto to hunt for clues about the founder.
Aim of Satoshi Nakamoto
Many people lost their jobs and a lot of their money after the 2008 crisis; the market crashed, and fiat currencies were losing their value.
Satoshi created an entirely new decentralized electronic cash system that allowed peer-to-peer transactions, the like of which was never known. No governments or foreign entities could govern it, making it more secure and private. This was quite different from the traditional finance system.
Our traditional financial system is highly centralized. The government prints the currency and backs it to the public via the banking system. The government earns a significant cut from regulating the cash, and the banks make their share by providing various services such as lending and deposit.
Bitcoin aims to be the perfect alternative to fiat currency. With mass adoption, you can exchange bitcoins for various goods and services. You can also transfer a Bitcoin to anyone across the globe with a minimal transaction fee.
Satoshi designed Bitcoin to have a limited supply of 21 million. However, after over a decade, more than 18.5 million bitcoins have already been mined. The founder wanted the Bitcoin to be a scarce entity that would increase its value over the years, just like precious metals become more profitable with time.
Bottom Line
Initially, the Bitcoin was considered a threat to the global economy, and many countries banned it. However, the restrictions were slowly lifted, and various governments started supporting Bitcoin. People also realized the benefits of Bitcoin, and many invested in the crypto coin.
Bitcoin has grown to become one of the most popular cryptocurrencies worldwide, and we owe it all to its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
