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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>After we published the second part of the study of Satoshi Nakamoto’s language – where <a href="https://ungeared.com/authorship-dispute-resolution-method-applied-to-uncover-satoshi-nakamoto/">we compared his style to that of likely candidates</a>, a crypto journalist David Canellis approached us with a number of questions. One of those questions was “<a href="https://protos.com/bitcoin-creator-satoshi-nakamoto-candidates-analysis-hal-finney/">Do you think the evidence you've put forward is definitive enough to say that Hal Finney was Satoshi</a>?”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This question rekindled my musings on the topic – how would Satoshi prove that he is Satoshi, what proof would be <i>definitive</i>? To most the question may be of rhetorical nature as in their mind, the proof is easy – all Satoshi would need to do is either sign a message with a private key from one of the early blocks or just move some of those early coins.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I could retort the former proposal by referring them to the infamous <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/05/craig-wright-privately-proved-hes-bitcoins-creator/?code=9PV56SPf5ERquv_mHrlGPC_n2G2hc6dJXymTgsV6U_p&state=%7B%22redirectURL%22%3A%22%2F2016%2F05%2Fcraig-wright-privately-proved-hes-bitcoins-creator%2F%22%7D">Craig Steve Wright – Gavin Andresen proof session</a>. However, this is not really the point I am driving at. Let’s presume that Wright (or let’s call him X) had provided a proper signature or that he even managed to transfer some of the earliest coins, would this serve as <i>definitive</i> proof? I believe, it wouldn’t. Firstly, just because someone has access to a wallet or a private key at time t, doesn’t necessarily imply that have always had. They might have come into possession by legitimate or illegitimate means at some point between t=0 and t=t. It is also possible that Satoshi hadn’t mined early blocks, though common sense and much research would indicate that he did. Perhaps, the dominant early miner that <a href="https://bitslog.com/2013/04/17/the-well-deserved-fortune-of-satoshi-nakamoto/">Sergio Demian Lerner dubbed as <i>Patoshi</i></a>, wasn’t the creator of Bitcoin, but someone who had volunteered to provide their computational resources to the project early on. Let’s summarize my arguments against:<o:p></o:p></p><ol style='margin-top:0in' start=1 type=1><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>An individual X gained access to early bitcoins after the fact<o:p></o:p></li><ol style='margin-top:0in' start=1 type=a><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'>Satoshi voluntarily transferred control to X<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'>X hacked Satoshi (after all, Satoshi’s GMX email was hacked at some point)<o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level2 lfo1'>Someone else hacked Satoshi and then X came into possession of the hacked keys <o:p></o:p></li></ol><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'>X mined those early coins, but he is not Satoshi<o:p></o:p></li></ol><p class=MsoNormal>Since I don’t believe that a cryptographic signature or a transfer would constitute definitive proof (let me clarify my position, I do believe that such actions would present a very strong claim, just not bulletproof), what would? Let’s have a thought experiment, we are approached by X who claims to be Satoshi, privately they have presented us with convincing enough evidence to take them seriously and now, they are asking our advice on how to reveal themselves to the world without recreating Craig Wright’s ensued bedlam? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>