10 ms·

I’m Sorry

222 points by daturkel 10y ago

daturkel 10y ago
The home page of http://www.drcraigwright.net/ http://www.drcraigwright.net/ currently just displays this image. Linked straight to it so that it wouldn't get flagged as a duplicate submission. edit: Here's a mirror of the image, in case it comes down: http://i.imgur.com/7lhU0mr.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7lhU0mr.jpg And here's the OCR'd text: I'm Sorry. I believed that I could do this. I believed that I could put the years of anonymity and hiding behind me. But, as the events of this week unfolded and I prepared to publish the proof of access to the earliest keys, I broke. I do not have the courage. I cannot. When the rumors began, my qualifications and character were attacked. When those allegations were proven false, new allegations have already begun. I know now that I am not strong enough for this. I know that this weakness will cause great damage to those that have supported me, and particularly to Jon Matonis and Gavin Andresen. I can only hope that their honour and credibility is not irreparably tainted by my actions. They were not deceived, but I know that the world will never believe that now. I can only say I'm sorry. And goodbye.
- daturkel 10y ago
  Strangely, he's replaced the homepage and every subpage/file with an HTML version of the note, rather than the image. I'm not sure why.
  - sixdimensional 10y ago
    Is there any steganography going on here?
- kilre 10y ago
  Note the rate he begins sentences with I.
coldtea 10y ago
>"as (...) I prepared to publish the proof of access to the earliest keys, I broke. I do not have the courage. I cannot". And I call BS, with BS on top. How convenient...
- racoonear 10y ago
  Yeah, kind of angry after reading that.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    > kind of angry after reading that What do you and I have to be angry about? Isn't that just playing into online mob behavior?
DonHopkins 10y ago
"They were not deceived" -- yeah, that's the ticket! [1] Nice use of passive voice to obscure the subject of the sentence. He just couldn't bring himself to say "I did not deceive them." It's technically true that there's somebody in the universe who didn't deceive both of those people. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkYNBwCEeH4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkYNBwCEeH4
- agumonkey 10y ago
  I just saw his BBC interview http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580 and his body language (for whatever this is worth) is worse than most politicians. Rhythm, eyes.
  - cynthiar 10y ago
    I thought he was quite convincing in that performance. In fact, what tipped me off was just how convincing he was, the way a conman would be. What about his body language tipped you off?
    - agumonkey 10y ago
      The convoluted way to answer 'Satoshi, is you'. Long pause, look away, answer sideways, pivot back eyes still close, still no eye to eye contact. Feels like a lot is going on in his mind. Maybe he can't express everything he wants too. Maybe he's just acting over its abilities.
4e1a 10y ago
What a load of shit! He can't cryptographically prove something without courage?! WTF
- cooper12 10y ago
  "Your skepticism prevented me from providing evidence to allay those concerns".
  - jjuel 10y ago
    The thing is if he uses actual proof like the community wanted him to there would no longer be any skepticism. So the only reason to not do it is because you can't do it.
    - danielweber 10y ago
      If only Satoshi had created a way to publicly prove ownership of Bitcoins. :(
tcoppi 10y ago
The worst part about this is he is playing so loose with words that it gives no closure at all. For years there will be people, especially newbies, that will believe Craig and will treat circumstances surrounding the whole affair, like the "leaked" and "hacked" documents alleging his involvement, as at least potentially true. In my view, anyone or anything that lends any legitimacy to Craig as far as bitcoin goes should not be trusted at this point. For that matter, I believe most public people involved with bitcoin should not be trusted at all either, but that is incidental.
- deleted 10y ago
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- mbmott 10y ago
  Bitcoin definitely attracts fraud, but it's also teaching many people an important lesson in trust. Trust code and math as these things are ultimately verifiable.
  - tcoppi 10y ago
    It's also a first-class lesson to a lot of young technologists as to how financial regulations and the modern banking system came to exist in the first place. Thankfully bitcoin was so well designed that we can ultimately trust the math behind it, but the code is still malleable by people who may not have the network's best intentions in mind.
  - GrinningFool 10y ago
    It's a hard lesson for many, and it'll likely need to be learned many times over. Any number of individuals are willing to take advantage of the trustworthy nature the technology to imply that the things they do are also trustworthy. And too often, it works - because the technology is secure, not enough people question those who are using it and proclaiming "secure" in a loud enough voice (mt gox, cryptsy, mintpal, and countless others).
emmet 10y ago
Is this a suicide note?
- m52go 10y ago
  Gosh it certainly reads like one. Same text is hosted at his root... http://www.drcraigwright.net/ http://www.drcraigwright.net/
  - shanehoban 10y ago
    Why is it a JPG, is there a hidden message encoded in it or something?
    - anoonmoose 10y ago
      Given that the entire source of his main website is <img src="homepage.jpg"> my first guess would be that he wanted to delete basically everything and leave a static message but didn't want to figure out how to do that minimally in HTML/etc. so he just did an image.
      - rankam 10y ago
        It looks like it was changed from an image to html within the last 5 minutes or so.
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
- pboutros 10y ago
  How is this not the first thought people had? Poor guy, with a lot of signs of mental instability. The amount of animosity people have had towards him on HN (and elsewhere) isn't tempered by how obviously imbalanced he is. I think it's because of the disproportionate amount of media attention he's received for something he didn't earn.
gedrap 10y ago
Well, simple way to stop most of it would have been to prove it. That's all. But holding the proof and then such a dramatic exit, playing the victim? Wow.
kennell 10y ago
If the real Satoshi is still around, he musst be cringing at all this. The man can't even accurately describe how SHA256 works, yet claims to be the mastermind behind all this. Geee Craig, stop playing silly games. Sign the message or simply stfu.
- rasengan 10y ago
  He is.
  - philippnagel 10y ago
    Could you elaborate?
    - celticninja 10y ago
      He is going to stfu.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- wolfgke 10y ago
  > The man can't even accurately describe how SHA256 works, yet claims to be the mastermind behind all this. On the other hand: It is clear from Bitcoin's source code that Satoshi Nakamoto did not understand Merkle trees that well: Just read the detailed comment at https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/a6a860796a44a2805a58391a009ba22752f64e32/src/consensus/merkle.cpp#L9-L43 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/a6a860796a44a2805a58...
ablation 10y ago
This is not an apology or admission of guilt for conning people with his ridiculous stories. This is an enigmatic exit, complete with him still tacitly claiming to be Satoshi. Quite pathetic.
- tzaman 10y ago
  Yeah, agreed. I fail to see how creating a crypto signature requires courage.
  - untothebreach 10y ago
    I believe that, what he wants us to take away from this, is that once he "proves" himself to be who he says he is, his life will change in ways similar, but worse, to the ways that it has since he claimed to be Satoshi. It is this change, he seems to be saying, that he is not courageous enough to face. Sounds like B.S. to me, but who tf am I to judge?
- kbart 10y ago
  "This is an enigmatic exit, complete with him still tacitly claiming to be Satoshi. Quite pathetic." Agreed. "I won't prove that I'm Satoshi anymore, but I am". It's getting more and more like religion -- we don't get to know for sure, we have to believe now.. And I'm sure a herd of idiots will do just that.
  - ericzawo 10y ago
    Honestly, this is playing out like a Hollywood flick.
  - eric001 10y ago
    We are supposed to care about privacy, yet people can't stop trying to find out who is the creator of bitcoins, even though this person clearly doesn't want that to be known. I think we are all naturally hypocritical beings or something.
    - 10y ago
csomar 10y ago
It comes as a surprise to me that this is too close to religion. Some trustworthy people saw Jesus, God and the miracles. Some people did not believe and some people might have claimed that it was fake. But most people believed it anyway, and it's still believed by a big number of people to date.
- knodi123 10y ago
  Some people were deceived by a con artist named Wright. When he was called on it, he made a bunch of people think he was going to die soon, and made a bunch of other people feel marginally guilty for questioning his authenticity. Now, despite overwhelming evidence of trickery, despite perfect proof of his claims being trivially easy to create, there are still people in this very thread who think he's genuine. And probably will be for years to come, since those who believe him and defended him are emotionally invested in it, and those who disbelieve him will have ceased thinking about this embarrassing debacle a year from now. Yes, it's a pretty good analogy.
spdustin 10y ago
Sounds like a suicide note from a distraught individual to me, leaving aside the lack of Satoshi's grammar. I do not know enough about his background to contact the police for a well-being check; does anyone here?
- SeanKilleen 10y ago
  This was my first thought as well. I hope someone can confirm he's safe. Whether it was true or not, it's not worth anyone's well-being.
- teraflop 10y ago
  At face value, I would agree. But given that he's clearly lying about being Satoshi, and therefore also lying in this note, I figure it's likely that the "suicidal" tone was deliberately chosen. It's just another attempt to stir up controversy.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    > it's likely that the "suicidal" tone was deliberately chosen That's a very serious thing to say in regard to something you know very little about.
brunomarx 10y ago
he has some serious issues
deleted 10y ago
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sergiotapia 10y ago
Basically: "I'm sorry you don't believe me, I am too weak to give actual proof."
deleted 10y ago
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justsaysmthng 10y ago
I believe the guy is Satoshi. People were expecting the next Jesus Christ and now everyone's so disappointed that "Satoshi" is just an average geek with human weaknesses - not the messiah everyone expected. Had he started a Unicorn startup, nobody would have even thought to question it, but now that the myth of Satoshi has been blown to astronomic proportions, people refuse to believe that their guru is just a "simple" guy who makes mistakes and is clumsy at PR. Look at the source code of bitcoin-0.1 and you'll notice that Satoshi was an average C++ programmer who wrote sloppy code - yes it was a prototype - but it wouldn't have stood a chance if other people hadn't gotten involved to develop it into what Bitcoin is today. Besides, if you look at the code, he wasn't even sure he was creating a currency - it looked like he was trying to create a marketplace, complete with products and chat. Interestingly, a lot of people treat him like a fake prophet - and are proverbially crucifying him for not being able to perform the "miracle" of making a transaction from block 9. --- He's not Jesus and he's not Buddha, he's just a programmer who had a brilliant idea and now tries to claim his invention. But then again, maybe I'm wrong and Craig Wright is just an idiot compromising his reputation and career for a "moonshot" and a minute of glory. That would be totally stupid for a guy who has a family and a company and who's a cryptographer - to make a fool out of himself like this. Unless, what he claims is true.. Who knows, in the end it doesn't really matter that much.
- nyolfen 10y ago
  Look at discussions about Wright from earlier this week. He has an established reputation as a scam artist.
  - thecourier 10y ago
    do you have a link to the previous discussion, please?
    - nyolfen 10y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11609611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11609611
  - 10y ago
joshmanders 10y ago
Forgive me as I'm a newbie to bitcoin and only ever seen it from the outside and watched a few things. I only know who Satoshi is because of the mass amounts of people wanting to know who this mysterious man really is. But my question is, why does it matter if Craig Wright is or isn't? I mean I can understand being upset that he lied about it if he really isn't for attention, but what if he is? The dude is literally being ripped apart left and right by everyone and anyone. Whether Satoshi is finally identified or not, what difference will it make? I honestly don't understand the deafening attacks at Wright at first for being "outted" as a potential to be Satoshi and now when he says he is.
- beaker52 10y ago
  It doesn't matter so much whether he's Satoshi or not - but it matters that he's tried to make the claim with evidence that's been dispelled. It'd be a significant claim if Mark Zuckerberg claimed to be a lost son of the late Steve Jobs and people would expect him to prove it. It'd be scandalous if the DNA test came back negative and would clearly peak people's interest in Mark Zuckerberg's character.
  - joshmanders 10y ago
    And I get that, but why the attacks? What if in your scenario everyone who didn't believe went ripping through Zuckerberg's life, attacking him and being all around a rude person (in harsher words) and then Zuckerberg was ACTUALLY the lost son of the late Steve Jobs?
- StavrosK 10y ago
  > what if he is? The dude is literally being ripped apart left and right by everyone and anyone. Because he's the guy who, when asked for ID to prove he's 21 when entering a bar, shows a piece of paper with "Date of birth: 21 years old" sharpied on it, and when the bouncer says "yeah this isn't actual ID" the guy goes "WOE IS ME! IF I GET THIS TREATMENT AT THE DOOR, IMAGINE WHAT THE ACTUAL BAR WOULD BE LIKE! I DO NOT HAVE THE COURAGE TO WALK PAST A DOOR SUCH AS THIS, ALAS, HORATIO" and feigns fainting.
dzdt 10y ago
He had promised to do the impossible -- cryptographically prove he had access to early coins which he did not in fact have. He had carefully developed two scam-proofs of this. One scam proof was deployed on his blog where he claimed to sign a Sartre text with a key from bitcoin block 9. He carefully did not give the exact input text, only a supposed hash of the text. The hope was anyone trying to replicate would assume their problem was an incorrect source text. And there was proof that the given hash value was signed by the key. But that did not survive internet scrutiny; it was noticed that the signature came from an old bitcoin transaction. Instead of signing the hashed Sartre text as claimed, it signed the old transaction. The other scam proof was presented in private to reporters and bitcoin developers Jon Matonis and Gavin Andresen. Here Wright supposedly demonstrated the ability to sign arbitrary messages using keys from bitcoin blocks 1 and 9. This scam succeeded: both Andresen and Matonis were convinced. But they were not allowed to keep copies of the evidence, to prevent the trick from being exposed. One speculation is that Wright was able to substitute a doctored version of the Electrum software used for the verification. But without evidence to examine outside of Wright's control, the exact details of the scam are still hidden. But now Wright is out of ideas. His public-consumption scam failed, and his private controlled-scenario scam can't be more widely replicated. So this message is his way of backing out, trying as much as possible to save face and keep open the possibility of claiming the Satoshi Nakamoto identity again later.
- ryao 10y ago
  I had not cared that much about this, but his actions are exactly what I would have expected from bitcoin's creator. There are some guys who simply do not want to be found. The guy who created Bitcoin is one of them. Making things develop like this simultaneously repairs much of the damage to his anonymity while minimizing the damage to the two guys who put their reputations on the line for him. By acting the way that you are acting, you are acting exactly like he intended for you to act. There is simply insufficient public evidence to say whether he is or is not. He is in that pesky excluded middle that gives rise to pseudo-Boolean logic. That being said, people should realize that the creator of Bitcoin does not want to be found and honor that.
  - 10y ago
daturkel 10y ago
BBC has now written Wright's "backing out" of providing proof: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580
calebm 10y ago
I'm pretty sure Craig Wright is not the real Satoshi, but if he was the real Satoshi and didn't want anyone to know, he would be going about it in exactly the right way :)
- danieltillett 10y ago
  This has been my thought exactly. The best place to hide a needle in in a pile of needles.
cisstrd 10y ago
If he is not Satoshi and just wanted the attention: Narcissists have an incredible high rate of suicide, because when they fall from their high horse, the floor is quite some way down and the landing is too hard for them. Rather than being found out as fake, go with a bang... I fear the bang coming... This note kind of worries me a little bit... no matter what he did wrong, I hope he will be okay.
- e40 10y ago
  But if he's a sociopath, this might be his gambit to exit with the least pain, and suicide would not be very likely.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - cisstrd 10y ago
    (still speculating on the basis that he is not Satoshi and did it for reasons of getting attention) Also a possibility of course... his method to safe at least some of his self-image, depends on how good he is at self-manipulation, people are often very good at it.
- pbreit 10y ago
  The "And goodbye" was a little ominous.
mootothemax 10y ago
At this point, this is bordering on performance art. (For what it's worth, I'm torn on this note: on the one hand, it's deeply upsetting that someone is writing that they're feeling such torment; on the other hand, should it turn out to have been written insincerely, he's just made it a tonne more difficult for anyone else who does legitimately express feelings like this. No winners.)
- TillE 10y ago
  Honestly, I'm shocked anyone is taking it seriously. Every shred of evidence (from the past few days, and from last year) suggests he's a con artist. I certainly believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, but it's laughable to think this guy is actually Satoshi, and therefore impossible to see this note as sincere.
  - mootothemax 10y ago
    Yeah, honestly I agree with you, I doubt any part of it is real. I do feel uneasy about discounting a potential cry for help, though, however unlikely it may be.
noxToken 10y ago
I know what cryptocurrency is but I have hardly followed what goes on. I am somewhat familiar with the recent event involving Wright. Could someone tell me, in plain English, if there are any challenges in Wright divulging the information needed to verify that he is Satoshi?
- c22 10y ago
  There are only challenges if he doesn't have the key. If he has the key he should trivially be able to sign anything with it or decrypt anything encrypted to it.
  - pgrote 10y ago
    Is there a reason he hasn't or won't spend some on the original bitcoins to prove his claim? I don't think spend isn't the proper technical term.
    - ChristianBundy 10y ago
      The reason is that he's "too weak", supposedly. The real reason is that he isn't Satoshi.
  - noxToken 10y ago
    That's what I thought, but I just wanted to be sure. Thanks!
  - roywiggins 10y ago
    The key could be in a vault inside his secret volcano base. If someone just wires him $ to charter a flight, he can retrieve his millions and share it. I wonder if the scam he has been running is "front me money to build a supercomputer to bruteforce my passworded wallet containing Satoshi's millions." This would be more convincing if he were actually Satoshi and 'lost' the password....
OliverSadie 10y ago
Did anyone notice his pronunciation of "moniker" on the BBC piece? Needed a second or two to parse "monkier". Before seeing the weight of evidence both sides of the argument, this awkward language was my first whiff of BS. Just me?
- headgasket 10y ago
  noticed that too, maybe he's dyslexic?
r618 10y ago
bwahahahahaha
deleted 10y ago
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woodman 10y ago
Just to save anybody else the effort of pulling times from the jpg: 20160503T16:00:03Z First Internet Archive snapshot of extraordinary proof post [0] 20160505T10:57:08Z homepage.jpg created [1] 20160505T11:13:52Z homepage.jpg saved 20160505T11:35:21Z homepage.jpg saved 20160505T12:11:46Z First Internet Archive snapshot reflecting change [2] 20160505T13:30:26Z Image replaced with text [3] 20160505T13:52:40Z homepage.jpg is now an html file I wouldn't be very concerned about this being a suicide note, I don't think it is common for suicide cases to make bandwidth saving changes to the note hours after the the initial release... [0] https://web.archive.org/web/20160503160003/http://www.drcraigwright.net/extraordinary-claims-require-extraordinary-proof/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160503160003/http://www.drcrai... [1] http://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=c37a7368be70afd35efc49e9a660a45c0b7d71a4.207446 http://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=c37a7368be70afd35ef... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20160504140906/http://drcraigwright.net https://web.archive.org/web/20160504140906/http://drcraigwri... [3] https://web.archive.org/web/20160505133026/http://www.drcraigwright.net https://web.archive.org/web/20160505133026/http://www.drcrai...
- comboy 10y ago
  Is this a log from some command line tool? If yes, what is it?
  - woodman 10y ago
    Sorry, no - everything I touch looks like it came from a TUI... BSD King Midas.
tacos 10y ago
Flounce level 1000, a new high score. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flounce http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flounce
zaroth 10y ago
I wonder if Craig was hoping that the real Satoshi would move a coin to implicate Craig as Satoshi in order to actually remain hidden.
DyslexicAtheist 10y ago
what's the reason for him showing us a screenshot though? 1) so search engines don't index and remember the text? I suppose search engines only read meta data from images and not OCR them when crawling? 2) if one grants him deeper technical knowledge of information security (I don't) then you could argue he has done the image/screenshot after creating the text in his WYSIWYG editor then after publishing the article, ... so that he could switch off any backend cgi or rdbms capability to reduce his attack surface (from lot of people who are currently digging for ways to poke around his internet facing system for ways of getting in)
- anoonmoose 10y ago
  Some wild guesswork: his website used to disallow right-clicking with a message that said he didn't want to share his images. Obviously people can get around that but whatever, this shows what type of person we're dealing with on a technical level. He might have thought that posting an image would prevent people from...copying the text or something? Searching for it? Who knows. Of course, now it's HTML again, probably because he realized his website was getting hammered on bandwidth. Which makes me feel a little better about his health and well-being, since being concerned about bandwidth implies long-term thought processes.
wbillingsley 10y ago
Cryptography, a transaction system that tracks the flow of money around the world, coming out a few years after money laundering measures were on the security agenda, working under a pseudonym to keep their identity secret, not looking to convert much of the hundreds of millions to cash when the price went up, total silence on whether or not somebody else is Satoshi... ... something makes me wonder if Satoshi has the initials GCHQ. Of course, on the other hand, it'd be ironic if it turns out the real Satoshi just didn't expect it to turn into such a big thing, lost the keys on a USB down the back of a sofa, and is hiding out of the sheer embarrassment of it all.
andrewla 10y ago
The only scenario wherein Craig Wright could actually be Satoshi is if Satoshi had burned his bridges -- in the process of abandoning the Satoshi identity, he had deleted all cryptographic evidence of the identity; all private keys and credentials for online accounts. In that case, if he later (now) decided to assert the identity, then he might be tempted to cobble together fake proof to get his foot in the door far enough that he could begin to assert various forms of social proof with people that he had interacted with while using the Satoshi identity. It's worth noting that the "scorched earth" elimination of the Satoshi identity is another possible theory as to why nobody has credibly claimed the identity -- because even the individual (or group) that assumed the identity no longer has the ability to cryptographically assert that identity.
- hatmatrix 10y ago
  People have suggested it's possible that the real Satoshi could have destroyed or not kept the original private key, or it belongs with one of the other, now deceased team members. Is there anything to gain by not admitting to it if this were the case? Even if a message were to be signed with the original key, people suggest that it would still not be proof as it could have been stolen or extorted. It seems there is no way to prove anything at this point. CSW's backing by "experts" suggests he is not an ordinary conman. Surprisingly, none of the experts have so far backed down on their support of CSW. Even GA's statement does not withdraw support, only expresses regret for posting support too soon. Also CSW's boldness to assume that the real Satoshi would not out him at this point makes it likely that he was involved with the Satoshi team and has some knowledge about his identity (deceased or otherwise). Or, he is gambling. CSW's writing style in his blogs and elsewhere suggest it cannot be the same person as the author of the white paper, and yet I've heard another say that his academic papers contain a writing style close to the white paper (I have not verified myself). All of this is obviously bizarre - the backdating of evidence, fraudulent cryptographic proof, etc. Either he severely underestimates his audience, or he wants to be be discredited. There has been a suggestion that CSW wants to discredit himself to throw off extortionists (reported 6 months ago).
  - danielweber 10y ago
Geekette 10y ago
As I said on the other related thread[1]: Given his history as a prolific liar, I find his post to be utter bullshit. Note how he's still lying about things he was caught at: "When the rumours began, my qualifications and character were attacked. When those allegations were proven false". NO - it was established (with confirmation from the schools in question) that he lied about having a PhD from Charles Stuart U. and he definitely does not possess 8 masters degrees. Not to mention other lies about having super computers and partnership with SGI to build more with fake reference letter (all clarified by company as false), etc. Now, because he knows he can't successfully claim Satoshi's identity and in light of possible charges based on ongoing police investigation (fraudulent use of tax credits), he wants to dramatically disappear. I hope the authorities have his passport(s). His thirst for fame is unreal. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11635471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11635471
- biswaroop 10y ago
  Serious question, but why are we all so serious? Maybe he's a pathological liar; maybe he wants fame; maybe he's just a conman. Does the bitcoin or tech community gain something from hoping for his arrest?
  - sleepybrett 10y ago
    Less conmen in the wild?
  - Geekette 10y ago
    What exactly is unacceptable about hoping that an established liar and conman is made to account for his actions? At the very least, getting millions of dollars from fraudulently claimed tax credits is certainly not a trivial issue. Also don't understand why it would be acceptable to anyone that he should get away with falsely claiming an identity despite contradictory evidence and potentially smearing the image of bitcoin/community via his actions.
    - biswaroop 10y ago
      I hope he's held accountable too; it's just the vitriol in the threads that surprised me.
mladenkovacevic 10y ago
His true aim of writing an auto-biography titled "I am Satoshi" will have to be renamed to "How I fooled nobody that I am Satoshi"
hasch 10y ago
best counter "proof" that he isn't satoshi is the source code. compare this html5-masterpiece to the first bitcoin.org website: http://web.archive.org/web/20090131115053/http://bitcoin.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/20090131115053/http://bitcoin.org... I doubt the real satoshi would have started to learn sophisticated html in the past 7 years
deleted 10y ago
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nickpsecurity 10y ago
That's right, Craig. It's time to end your troll of the most gullible people in tech and HN. It's time to end it with one more scam: a fake confession of the broken man... who really is honest... who society just couldn't come to grips with. A cliff-hanger that should ensure any book or business deals will still be profitable if merely dependent on a few believing in his con. Red flags and bullshit from start, especially presentation style in conference interview, to finish. Craig, if you see this comment, please aim for a Darwin Award next as you'd be doing humanity a favor.
dsugarman 10y ago
It does read like a suicide note, as someone in the other thread noted
sixtypoundhound 10y ago
First rule of a credible "reveal". You do not reveal yourself; someone else must reveal you. The art lies in the orchestration of the latter.
known 10y ago
Apologies accepted :)
ohyes 10y ago
I too lack the courage to out myself as satoshi nakamoto!
zodPod 10y ago
So, like... Is this a thing now? I guess... I'll be the new Satoshi?
deleted 10y ago
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michael2l 10y ago
It's amazing to me how everyone is drinking the koolaid here on him being a fraud. I really don't think Gavin got duped. And I'm pretty sure they had enough private email discussions over the years that there were things they discussed/shared privately over those years that could be used as a reference point for Gavin to be sure he was talking to the same person. People are more willing to believe that Gavin was hacked or suddenly forgot how bitcoin worked. I understand the technical proofs put forth have been spurious. I wouldn't be surprised if Craig had an under-qualified underlying who didn't really understand what they were doing who was responsible for some of that. People are forgetting the human part of this equation though. His interviews with the BBC don't strike me at all as someone looking to cash in. I think he is a bit of narcissist and wants to claim some credit for inventing bitcoin, but I also see a very deep fear of being in the public eye that comes through as well. Perhaps because he has done quite a few things he's not proud of and doesn't want to have people publicizing those. But the idea that he's a scammer looking to cash in here just play doesn't out at all. What's the end game? Where's the pile of money he's after? People aren't thinking through the motivations here thoroughly enough. He's risking quite a lot by doing this with the absolute certainty that he would be found out if he was a fraud. You could say maybe he's an idiot and doesn't understand that. No one could watch that interview though and believe the man isn't intelligent though. Why talk about the negotiations with Australian tax authorities when those authorities could very easily come and say that he was lying. None of this makes any sense from the scam angle. There has to be something else going on here.
- ledude 10y ago
  He's actually Batman and just not telling us.
- woodman 10y ago
  > Why talk about the negotiations with Australian tax authorities when those authorities could very easily come and say that he was lying. Like he did with the unearned degrees, the nonexistent business partnerships, and key signing slight of hand?
- vizzah 10y ago
  Based on your considerations, if it were true, he wouldn't need to write such a confusing post for coming out and use fake block-9 signature.
nurettin 10y ago
All this ruckus because people dislike others being wrongly credited. Well, so what if he gets a cult following? So what if a portion of people want to believe something without empirical evidence? Not like it hasn't ever happened before. And it will continue to happen no matter how many call bullshit.
joeblau 10y ago
The Internet... Still undefeated.
roosterjm2k2 10y ago
I feel like this whole thing belongs on TMZ, not Hacker News...
fallingfrog 10y ago
Here is one hypothetical explanation for this behavior: maybe Craig is not Satoshi, but he wants to know who the real Satoshi is. So he fabricates some evidence, and goes public claiming to be Satoshi, hoping that the real Satoshi will contact him. Once that contact is made, if he figures out Satoshi's true identity he can then blackmail that person, or if not he can extort money from them in exchange for dropping his claim. Probably farfetched..
matchagaucho 10y ago
I'm confused what part "courage" plays in executing a public transaction using known Satoshi Bitcoins? Would even that transaction still be subject to scrutiny?
SyneRyder 10y ago
Worth pointing out that the BBC has followed up with another post. Wright asked them to send a small Bitcoin amount to the address used in the first Bitcoin transaction, and he would send it back to the BBC to prove he is Satoshi. The BBC sent their Bitcoin, and then Wright deleted his website. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213588 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213588
godgod 10y ago
ELI5...why would a person fake all this? Who really cares who's the true inventor of bitcoin. Does it really matter this much to know the original author? What are Craig's motives here? Fame can't be all there is to this story. Are we all being trolled?
Schwolop 10y ago
If I were Satoshi, and I thought people were sufficiently close to discovering that, a ridiculous media circus showing me claiming and failing to prove that I am Satoshi might well be a good way to throw people off my trail for a few more years...

222 points by daturkel 10y ago

The home page of http://www.drcraigwright.net/ http://www.drcraigwright.net/ currently just displays this image. Linked straight to it so that it wouldn't get flagged as a duplicate submission. edit: Here's a mirror of the image, in case it comes down: http://i.imgur.com/7lhU0mr.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7lhU0mr.jpg And here's the OCR'd text: I'm Sorry. I believed that I could do this. I believed that I could put the years of anonymity and hiding behind me. But, as the events of this week unfolded and I prepared to publish the proof of access to the earliest keys, I broke. I do not have the courage. I cannot. When the rumors began, my qualifications and character were attacked. When those allegations were proven false, new allegations have already begun. I know now that I am not strong enough for this. I know that this weakness will cause great damage to those that have supported me, and particularly to Jon Matonis and Gavin Andresen. I can only hope that their honour and credibility is not irreparably tainted by my actions. They were not deceived, but I know that the world will never believe that now. I can only say I'm sorry. And goodbye.

daturkel 10y ago
Strangely, he's replaced the homepage and every subpage/file with an HTML version of the note, rather than the image. I'm not sure why.
- sixdimensional 10y ago
  Is there any steganography going on here?
kilre 10y ago
Note the rate he begins sentences with I.

coldtea 10y ago

>"as (...) I prepared to publish the proof of access to the earliest keys, I broke. I do not have the courage. I cannot". And I call BS, with BS on top. How convenient...

racoonear 10y ago
Yeah, kind of angry after reading that.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > kind of angry after reading that What do you and I have to be angry about? Isn't that just playing into online mob behavior?

DonHopkins 10y ago

"They were not deceived" -- yeah, that's the ticket! [1] Nice use of passive voice to obscure the subject of the sentence. He just couldn't bring himself to say "I did not deceive them." It's technically true that there's somebody in the universe who didn't deceive both of those people. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkYNBwCEeH4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkYNBwCEeH4

agumonkey 10y ago
I just saw his BBC interview http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580 and his body language (for whatever this is worth) is worse than most politicians. Rhythm, eyes.
- cynthiar 10y ago
  I thought he was quite convincing in that performance. In fact, what tipped me off was just how convincing he was, the way a conman would be. What about his body language tipped you off?
  - agumonkey 10y ago
    The convoluted way to answer 'Satoshi, is you'. Long pause, look away, answer sideways, pivot back eyes still close, still no eye to eye contact. Feels like a lot is going on in his mind. Maybe he can't express everything he wants too. Maybe he's just acting over its abilities.

4e1a 10y ago

What a load of shit! He can't cryptographically prove something without courage?! WTF

cooper12 10y ago
"Your skepticism prevented me from providing evidence to allay those concerns".
- jjuel 10y ago
  The thing is if he uses actual proof like the community wanted him to there would no longer be any skepticism. So the only reason to not do it is because you can't do it.
  - danielweber 10y ago
    If only Satoshi had created a way to publicly prove ownership of Bitcoins. :(

tcoppi 10y ago

The worst part about this is he is playing so loose with words that it gives no closure at all. For years there will be people, especially newbies, that will believe Craig and will treat circumstances surrounding the whole affair, like the "leaked" and "hacked" documents alleging his involvement, as at least potentially true. In my view, anyone or anything that lends any legitimacy to Craig as far as bitcoin goes should not be trusted at this point. For that matter, I believe most public people involved with bitcoin should not be trusted at all either, but that is incidental.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
mbmott 10y ago
Bitcoin definitely attracts fraud, but it's also teaching many people an important lesson in trust. Trust code and math as these things are ultimately verifiable.
- tcoppi 10y ago
  It's also a first-class lesson to a lot of young technologists as to how financial regulations and the modern banking system came to exist in the first place. Thankfully bitcoin was so well designed that we can ultimately trust the math behind it, but the code is still malleable by people who may not have the network's best intentions in mind.
- GrinningFool 10y ago
  It's a hard lesson for many, and it'll likely need to be learned many times over. Any number of individuals are willing to take advantage of the trustworthy nature the technology to imply that the things they do are also trustworthy. And too often, it works - because the technology is secure, not enough people question those who are using it and proclaiming "secure" in a loud enough voice (mt gox, cryptsy, mintpal, and countless others).

emmet 10y ago

Is this a suicide note?

m52go 10y ago
Gosh it certainly reads like one. Same text is hosted at his root... http://www.drcraigwright.net/ http://www.drcraigwright.net/
- shanehoban 10y ago
  Why is it a JPG, is there a hidden message encoded in it or something?
  - anoonmoose 10y ago
    Given that the entire source of his main website is <img src="homepage.jpg"> my first guess would be that he wanted to delete basically everything and leave a static message but didn't want to figure out how to do that minimally in HTML/etc. so he just did an image.
    - rankam 10y ago
      It looks like it was changed from an image to html within the last 5 minutes or so.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
pboutros 10y ago
How is this not the first thought people had? Poor guy, with a lot of signs of mental instability. The amount of animosity people have had towards him on HN (and elsewhere) isn't tempered by how obviously imbalanced he is. I think it's because of the disproportionate amount of media attention he's received for something he didn't earn.

gedrap 10y ago

Well, simple way to stop most of it would have been to prove it. That's all. But holding the proof and then such a dramatic exit, playing the victim? Wow.

kennell 10y ago

If the real Satoshi is still around, he musst be cringing at all this. The man can't even accurately describe how SHA256 works, yet claims to be the mastermind behind all this. Geee Craig, stop playing silly games. Sign the message or simply stfu.

rasengan 10y ago
He is.
- philippnagel 10y ago
  Could you elaborate?
  - celticninja 10y ago
    He is going to stfu.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
wolfgke 10y ago
> The man can't even accurately describe how SHA256 works, yet claims to be the mastermind behind all this. On the other hand: It is clear from Bitcoin's source code that Satoshi Nakamoto did not understand Merkle trees that well: Just read the detailed comment at https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/a6a860796a44a2805a58391a009ba22752f64e32/src/consensus/merkle.cpp#L9-L43 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/a6a860796a44a2805a58...

ablation 10y ago

This is not an apology or admission of guilt for conning people with his ridiculous stories. This is an enigmatic exit, complete with him still tacitly claiming to be Satoshi. Quite pathetic.

tzaman 10y ago
Yeah, agreed. I fail to see how creating a crypto signature requires courage.
- untothebreach 10y ago
  I believe that, what he wants us to take away from this, is that once he "proves" himself to be who he says he is, his life will change in ways similar, but worse, to the ways that it has since he claimed to be Satoshi. It is this change, he seems to be saying, that he is not courageous enough to face. Sounds like B.S. to me, but who tf am I to judge?
kbart 10y ago
"This is an enigmatic exit, complete with him still tacitly claiming to be Satoshi. Quite pathetic." Agreed. "I won't prove that I'm Satoshi anymore, but I am". It's getting more and more like religion -- we don't get to know for sure, we have to believe now.. And I'm sure a herd of idiots will do just that.
- ericzawo 10y ago
  Honestly, this is playing out like a Hollywood flick.
- eric001 10y ago
  We are supposed to care about privacy, yet people can't stop trying to find out who is the creator of bitcoins, even though this person clearly doesn't want that to be known. I think we are all naturally hypocritical beings or something.
  - 10y ago

csomar 10y ago

It comes as a surprise to me that this is too close to religion. Some trustworthy people saw Jesus, God and the miracles. Some people did not believe and some people might have claimed that it was fake. But most people believed it anyway, and it's still believed by a big number of people to date.

knodi123 10y ago
Some people were deceived by a con artist named Wright. When he was called on it, he made a bunch of people think he was going to die soon, and made a bunch of other people feel marginally guilty for questioning his authenticity. Now, despite overwhelming evidence of trickery, despite perfect proof of his claims being trivially easy to create, there are still people in this very thread who think he's genuine. And probably will be for years to come, since those who believe him and defended him are emotionally invested in it, and those who disbelieve him will have ceased thinking about this embarrassing debacle a year from now. Yes, it's a pretty good analogy.

spdustin 10y ago

Sounds like a suicide note from a distraught individual to me, leaving aside the lack of Satoshi's grammar. I do not know enough about his background to contact the police for a well-being check; does anyone here?

SeanKilleen 10y ago
This was my first thought as well. I hope someone can confirm he's safe. Whether it was true or not, it's not worth anyone's well-being.
teraflop 10y ago
At face value, I would agree. But given that he's clearly lying about being Satoshi, and therefore also lying in this note, I figure it's likely that the "suicidal" tone was deliberately chosen. It's just another attempt to stir up controversy.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > it's likely that the "suicidal" tone was deliberately chosen That's a very serious thing to say in regard to something you know very little about.

brunomarx 10y ago

he has some serious issues

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

sergiotapia 10y ago

Basically: "I'm sorry you don't believe me, I am too weak to give actual proof."

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

justsaysmthng 10y ago

I believe the guy is Satoshi. People were expecting the next Jesus Christ and now everyone's so disappointed that "Satoshi" is just an average geek with human weaknesses - not the messiah everyone expected. Had he started a Unicorn startup, nobody would have even thought to question it, but now that the myth of Satoshi has been blown to astronomic proportions, people refuse to believe that their guru is just a "simple" guy who makes mistakes and is clumsy at PR. Look at the source code of bitcoin-0.1 and you'll notice that Satoshi was an average C++ programmer who wrote sloppy code - yes it was a prototype - but it wouldn't have stood a chance if other people hadn't gotten involved to develop it into what Bitcoin is today. Besides, if you look at the code, he wasn't even sure he was creating a currency - it looked like he was trying to create a marketplace, complete with products and chat. Interestingly, a lot of people treat him like a fake prophet - and are proverbially crucifying him for not being able to perform the "miracle" of making a transaction from block 9. --- He's not Jesus and he's not Buddha, he's just a programmer who had a brilliant idea and now tries to claim his invention. But then again, maybe I'm wrong and Craig Wright is just an idiot compromising his reputation and career for a "moonshot" and a minute of glory. That would be totally stupid for a guy who has a family and a company and who's a cryptographer - to make a fool out of himself like this. Unless, what he claims is true.. Who knows, in the end it doesn't really matter that much.

nyolfen 10y ago
Look at discussions about Wright from earlier this week. He has an established reputation as a scam artist.
- thecourier 10y ago
  do you have a link to the previous discussion, please?
  - nyolfen 10y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11609611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11609611
- 10y ago

joshmanders 10y ago

Forgive me as I'm a newbie to bitcoin and only ever seen it from the outside and watched a few things. I only know who Satoshi is because of the mass amounts of people wanting to know who this mysterious man really is. But my question is, why does it matter if Craig Wright is or isn't? I mean I can understand being upset that he lied about it if he really isn't for attention, but what if he is? The dude is literally being ripped apart left and right by everyone and anyone. Whether Satoshi is finally identified or not, what difference will it make? I honestly don't understand the deafening attacks at Wright at first for being "outted" as a potential to be Satoshi and now when he says he is.

beaker52 10y ago
It doesn't matter so much whether he's Satoshi or not - but it matters that he's tried to make the claim with evidence that's been dispelled. It'd be a significant claim if Mark Zuckerberg claimed to be a lost son of the late Steve Jobs and people would expect him to prove it. It'd be scandalous if the DNA test came back negative and would clearly peak people's interest in Mark Zuckerberg's character.
- joshmanders 10y ago
  And I get that, but why the attacks? What if in your scenario everyone who didn't believe went ripping through Zuckerberg's life, attacking him and being all around a rude person (in harsher words) and then Zuckerberg was ACTUALLY the lost son of the late Steve Jobs?
StavrosK 10y ago
> what if he is? The dude is literally being ripped apart left and right by everyone and anyone. Because he's the guy who, when asked for ID to prove he's 21 when entering a bar, shows a piece of paper with "Date of birth: 21 years old" sharpied on it, and when the bouncer says "yeah this isn't actual ID" the guy goes "WOE IS ME! IF I GET THIS TREATMENT AT THE DOOR, IMAGINE WHAT THE ACTUAL BAR WOULD BE LIKE! I DO NOT HAVE THE COURAGE TO WALK PAST A DOOR SUCH AS THIS, ALAS, HORATIO" and feigns fainting.

dzdt 10y ago

He had promised to do the impossible -- cryptographically prove he had access to early coins which he did not in fact have. He had carefully developed two scam-proofs of this. One scam proof was deployed on his blog where he claimed to sign a Sartre text with a key from bitcoin block 9. He carefully did not give the exact input text, only a supposed hash of the text. The hope was anyone trying to replicate would assume their problem was an incorrect source text. And there was proof that the given hash value was signed by the key. But that did not survive internet scrutiny; it was noticed that the signature came from an old bitcoin transaction. Instead of signing the hashed Sartre text as claimed, it signed the old transaction. The other scam proof was presented in private to reporters and bitcoin developers Jon Matonis and Gavin Andresen. Here Wright supposedly demonstrated the ability to sign arbitrary messages using keys from bitcoin blocks 1 and 9. This scam succeeded: both Andresen and Matonis were convinced. But they were not allowed to keep copies of the evidence, to prevent the trick from being exposed. One speculation is that Wright was able to substitute a doctored version of the Electrum software used for the verification. But without evidence to examine outside of Wright's control, the exact details of the scam are still hidden. But now Wright is out of ideas. His public-consumption scam failed, and his private controlled-scenario scam can't be more widely replicated. So this message is his way of backing out, trying as much as possible to save face and keep open the possibility of claiming the Satoshi Nakamoto identity again later.

ryao 10y ago
I had not cared that much about this, but his actions are exactly what I would have expected from bitcoin's creator. There are some guys who simply do not want to be found. The guy who created Bitcoin is one of them. Making things develop like this simultaneously repairs much of the damage to his anonymity while minimizing the damage to the two guys who put their reputations on the line for him. By acting the way that you are acting, you are acting exactly like he intended for you to act. There is simply insufficient public evidence to say whether he is or is not. He is in that pesky excluded middle that gives rise to pseudo-Boolean logic. That being said, people should realize that the creator of Bitcoin does not want to be found and honor that.
- 10y ago

daturkel 10y ago

BBC has now written Wright's "backing out" of providing proof: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213580

calebm 10y ago

I'm pretty sure Craig Wright is not the real Satoshi, but if he was the real Satoshi and didn't want anyone to know, he would be going about it in exactly the right way :)

danieltillett 10y ago
This has been my thought exactly. The best place to hide a needle in in a pile of needles.

cisstrd 10y ago

If he is not Satoshi and just wanted the attention: Narcissists have an incredible high rate of suicide, because when they fall from their high horse, the floor is quite some way down and the landing is too hard for them. Rather than being found out as fake, go with a bang... I fear the bang coming... This note kind of worries me a little bit... no matter what he did wrong, I hope he will be okay.

e40 10y ago
But if he's a sociopath, this might be his gambit to exit with the least pain, and suicide would not be very likely.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- cisstrd 10y ago
  (still speculating on the basis that he is not Satoshi and did it for reasons of getting attention) Also a possibility of course... his method to safe at least some of his self-image, depends on how good he is at self-manipulation, people are often very good at it.
pbreit 10y ago
The "And goodbye" was a little ominous.

mootothemax 10y ago

At this point, this is bordering on performance art. (For what it's worth, I'm torn on this note: on the one hand, it's deeply upsetting that someone is writing that they're feeling such torment; on the other hand, should it turn out to have been written insincerely, he's just made it a tonne more difficult for anyone else who does legitimately express feelings like this. No winners.)

TillE 10y ago
Honestly, I'm shocked anyone is taking it seriously. Every shred of evidence (from the past few days, and from last year) suggests he's a con artist. I certainly believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, but it's laughable to think this guy is actually Satoshi, and therefore impossible to see this note as sincere.
- mootothemax 10y ago
  Yeah, honestly I agree with you, I doubt any part of it is real. I do feel uneasy about discounting a potential cry for help, though, however unlikely it may be.

noxToken 10y ago

I know what cryptocurrency is but I have hardly followed what goes on. I am somewhat familiar with the recent event involving Wright. Could someone tell me, in plain English, if there are any challenges in Wright divulging the information needed to verify that he is Satoshi?

c22 10y ago
There are only challenges if he doesn't have the key. If he has the key he should trivially be able to sign anything with it or decrypt anything encrypted to it.
- pgrote 10y ago
  Is there a reason he hasn't or won't spend some on the original bitcoins to prove his claim? I don't think spend isn't the proper technical term.
  - ChristianBundy 10y ago
    The reason is that he's "too weak", supposedly. The real reason is that he isn't Satoshi.
- noxToken 10y ago
  That's what I thought, but I just wanted to be sure. Thanks!
- roywiggins 10y ago
  The key could be in a vault inside his secret volcano base. If someone just wires him $ to charter a flight, he can retrieve his millions and share it. I wonder if the scam he has been running is "front me money to build a supercomputer to bruteforce my passworded wallet containing Satoshi's millions." This would be more convincing if he were actually Satoshi and 'lost' the password....

OliverSadie 10y ago

Did anyone notice his pronunciation of "moniker" on the BBC piece? Needed a second or two to parse "monkier". Before seeing the weight of evidence both sides of the argument, this awkward language was my first whiff of BS. Just me?

headgasket 10y ago
noticed that too, maybe he's dyslexic?

r618 10y ago

bwahahahahaha

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

woodman 10y ago

Just to save anybody else the effort of pulling times from the jpg: 20160503T16:00:03Z First Internet Archive snapshot of extraordinary proof post [0] 20160505T10:57:08Z homepage.jpg created [1] 20160505T11:13:52Z homepage.jpg saved 20160505T11:35:21Z homepage.jpg saved 20160505T12:11:46Z First Internet Archive snapshot reflecting change [2] 20160505T13:30:26Z Image replaced with text [3] 20160505T13:52:40Z homepage.jpg is now an html file I wouldn't be very concerned about this being a suicide note, I don't think it is common for suicide cases to make bandwidth saving changes to the note hours after the the initial release... [0] https://web.archive.org/web/20160503160003/http://www.drcraigwright.net/extraordinary-claims-require-extraordinary-proof/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160503160003/http://www.drcrai... [1] http://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=c37a7368be70afd35efc49e9a660a45c0b7d71a4.207446 http://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=c37a7368be70afd35ef... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20160504140906/http://drcraigwright.net https://web.archive.org/web/20160504140906/http://drcraigwri... [3] https://web.archive.org/web/20160505133026/http://www.drcraigwright.net https://web.archive.org/web/20160505133026/http://www.drcrai...

comboy 10y ago
Is this a log from some command line tool? If yes, what is it?
- woodman 10y ago
  Sorry, no - everything I touch looks like it came from a TUI... BSD King Midas.

tacos 10y ago

Flounce level 1000, a new high score. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flounce http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Flounce

zaroth 10y ago

I wonder if Craig was hoping that the real Satoshi would move a coin to implicate Craig as Satoshi in order to actually remain hidden.

DyslexicAtheist 10y ago

what's the reason for him showing us a screenshot though? 1) so search engines don't index and remember the text? I suppose search engines only read meta data from images and not OCR them when crawling? 2) if one grants him deeper technical knowledge of information security (I don't) then you could argue he has done the image/screenshot after creating the text in his WYSIWYG editor then after publishing the article, ... so that he could switch off any backend cgi or rdbms capability to reduce his attack surface (from lot of people who are currently digging for ways to poke around his internet facing system for ways of getting in)

anoonmoose 10y ago
Some wild guesswork: his website used to disallow right-clicking with a message that said he didn't want to share his images. Obviously people can get around that but whatever, this shows what type of person we're dealing with on a technical level. He might have thought that posting an image would prevent people from...copying the text or something? Searching for it? Who knows. Of course, now it's HTML again, probably because he realized his website was getting hammered on bandwidth. Which makes me feel a little better about his health and well-being, since being concerned about bandwidth implies long-term thought processes.

wbillingsley 10y ago

Cryptography, a transaction system that tracks the flow of money around the world, coming out a few years after money laundering measures were on the security agenda, working under a pseudonym to keep their identity secret, not looking to convert much of the hundreds of millions to cash when the price went up, total silence on whether or not somebody else is Satoshi... ... something makes me wonder if Satoshi has the initials GCHQ. Of course, on the other hand, it'd be ironic if it turns out the real Satoshi just didn't expect it to turn into such a big thing, lost the keys on a USB down the back of a sofa, and is hiding out of the sheer embarrassment of it all.

andrewla 10y ago

The only scenario wherein Craig Wright could actually be Satoshi is if Satoshi had burned his bridges -- in the process of abandoning the Satoshi identity, he had deleted all cryptographic evidence of the identity; all private keys and credentials for online accounts. In that case, if he later (now) decided to assert the identity, then he might be tempted to cobble together fake proof to get his foot in the door far enough that he could begin to assert various forms of social proof with people that he had interacted with while using the Satoshi identity. It's worth noting that the "scorched earth" elimination of the Satoshi identity is another possible theory as to why nobody has credibly claimed the identity -- because even the individual (or group) that assumed the identity no longer has the ability to cryptographically assert that identity.

hatmatrix 10y ago
People have suggested it's possible that the real Satoshi could have destroyed or not kept the original private key, or it belongs with one of the other, now deceased team members. Is there anything to gain by not admitting to it if this were the case? Even if a message were to be signed with the original key, people suggest that it would still not be proof as it could have been stolen or extorted. It seems there is no way to prove anything at this point. CSW's backing by "experts" suggests he is not an ordinary conman. Surprisingly, none of the experts have so far backed down on their support of CSW. Even GA's statement does not withdraw support, only expresses regret for posting support too soon. Also CSW's boldness to assume that the real Satoshi would not out him at this point makes it likely that he was involved with the Satoshi team and has some knowledge about his identity (deceased or otherwise). Or, he is gambling. CSW's writing style in his blogs and elsewhere suggest it cannot be the same person as the author of the white paper, and yet I've heard another say that his academic papers contain a writing style close to the white paper (I have not verified myself). All of this is obviously bizarre - the backdating of evidence, fraudulent cryptographic proof, etc. Either he severely underestimates his audience, or he wants to be be discredited. There has been a suggestion that CSW wants to discredit himself to throw off extortionists (reported 6 months ago).
- danielweber 10y ago

Geekette 10y ago

As I said on the other related thread[1]: Given his history as a prolific liar, I find his post to be utter bullshit. Note how he's still lying about things he was caught at: "When the rumours began, my qualifications and character were attacked. When those allegations were proven false". NO - it was established (with confirmation from the schools in question) that he lied about having a PhD from Charles Stuart U. and he definitely does not possess 8 masters degrees. Not to mention other lies about having super computers and partnership with SGI to build more with fake reference letter (all clarified by company as false), etc. Now, because he knows he can't successfully claim Satoshi's identity and in light of possible charges based on ongoing police investigation (fraudulent use of tax credits), he wants to dramatically disappear. I hope the authorities have his passport(s). His thirst for fame is unreal. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11635471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11635471

biswaroop 10y ago
Serious question, but why are we all so serious? Maybe he's a pathological liar; maybe he wants fame; maybe he's just a conman. Does the bitcoin or tech community gain something from hoping for his arrest?
- sleepybrett 10y ago
  Less conmen in the wild?
- Geekette 10y ago
  What exactly is unacceptable about hoping that an established liar and conman is made to account for his actions? At the very least, getting millions of dollars from fraudulently claimed tax credits is certainly not a trivial issue. Also don't understand why it would be acceptable to anyone that he should get away with falsely claiming an identity despite contradictory evidence and potentially smearing the image of bitcoin/community via his actions.
  - biswaroop 10y ago
    I hope he's held accountable too; it's just the vitriol in the threads that surprised me.

mladenkovacevic 10y ago

His true aim of writing an auto-biography titled "I am Satoshi" will have to be renamed to "How I fooled nobody that I am Satoshi"

hasch 10y ago

best counter "proof" that he isn't satoshi is the source code. compare this html5-masterpiece to the first bitcoin.org website: http://web.archive.org/web/20090131115053/http://bitcoin.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/20090131115053/http://bitcoin.org... I doubt the real satoshi would have started to learn sophisticated html in the past 7 years

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

nickpsecurity 10y ago

That's right, Craig. It's time to end your troll of the most gullible people in tech and HN. It's time to end it with one more scam: a fake confession of the broken man... who really is honest... who society just couldn't come to grips with. A cliff-hanger that should ensure any book or business deals will still be profitable if merely dependent on a few believing in his con. Red flags and bullshit from start, especially presentation style in conference interview, to finish. Craig, if you see this comment, please aim for a Darwin Award next as you'd be doing humanity a favor.

dsugarman 10y ago

It does read like a suicide note, as someone in the other thread noted

sixtypoundhound 10y ago

First rule of a credible "reveal". You do not reveal yourself; someone else must reveal you. The art lies in the orchestration of the latter.

known 10y ago

Apologies accepted :)

ohyes 10y ago

I too lack the courage to out myself as satoshi nakamoto!

zodPod 10y ago

So, like... Is this a thing now? I guess... I'll be the new Satoshi?

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

michael2l 10y ago

It's amazing to me how everyone is drinking the koolaid here on him being a fraud. I really don't think Gavin got duped. And I'm pretty sure they had enough private email discussions over the years that there were things they discussed/shared privately over those years that could be used as a reference point for Gavin to be sure he was talking to the same person. People are more willing to believe that Gavin was hacked or suddenly forgot how bitcoin worked. I understand the technical proofs put forth have been spurious. I wouldn't be surprised if Craig had an under-qualified underlying who didn't really understand what they were doing who was responsible for some of that. People are forgetting the human part of this equation though. His interviews with the BBC don't strike me at all as someone looking to cash in. I think he is a bit of narcissist and wants to claim some credit for inventing bitcoin, but I also see a very deep fear of being in the public eye that comes through as well. Perhaps because he has done quite a few things he's not proud of and doesn't want to have people publicizing those. But the idea that he's a scammer looking to cash in here just play doesn't out at all. What's the end game? Where's the pile of money he's after? People aren't thinking through the motivations here thoroughly enough. He's risking quite a lot by doing this with the absolute certainty that he would be found out if he was a fraud. You could say maybe he's an idiot and doesn't understand that. No one could watch that interview though and believe the man isn't intelligent though. Why talk about the negotiations with Australian tax authorities when those authorities could very easily come and say that he was lying. None of this makes any sense from the scam angle. There has to be something else going on here.

ledude 10y ago
He's actually Batman and just not telling us.
woodman 10y ago
> Why talk about the negotiations with Australian tax authorities when those authorities could very easily come and say that he was lying. Like he did with the unearned degrees, the nonexistent business partnerships, and key signing slight of hand?
vizzah 10y ago
Based on your considerations, if it were true, he wouldn't need to write such a confusing post for coming out and use fake block-9 signature.

nurettin 10y ago

All this ruckus because people dislike others being wrongly credited. Well, so what if he gets a cult following? So what if a portion of people want to believe something without empirical evidence? Not like it hasn't ever happened before. And it will continue to happen no matter how many call bullshit.

joeblau 10y ago

The Internet... Still undefeated.

roosterjm2k2 10y ago

I feel like this whole thing belongs on TMZ, not Hacker News...

fallingfrog 10y ago

Here is one hypothetical explanation for this behavior: maybe Craig is not Satoshi, but he wants to know who the real Satoshi is. So he fabricates some evidence, and goes public claiming to be Satoshi, hoping that the real Satoshi will contact him. Once that contact is made, if he figures out Satoshi's true identity he can then blackmail that person, or if not he can extort money from them in exchange for dropping his claim. Probably farfetched..

matchagaucho 10y ago

I'm confused what part "courage" plays in executing a public transaction using known Satoshi Bitcoins? Would even that transaction still be subject to scrutiny?

SyneRyder 10y ago

Worth pointing out that the BBC has followed up with another post. Wright asked them to send a small Bitcoin amount to the address used in the first Bitcoin transaction, and he would send it back to the BBC to prove he is Satoshi. The BBC sent their Bitcoin, and then Wright deleted his website. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213588 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36213588

godgod 10y ago

ELI5...why would a person fake all this? Who really cares who's the true inventor of bitcoin. Does it really matter this much to know the original author? What are Craig's motives here? Fame can't be all there is to this story. Are we all being trolled?

Schwolop 10y ago

If I were Satoshi, and I thought people were sufficiently close to discovering that, a ridiculous media circus showing me claiming and failing to prove that I am Satoshi might well be a good way to throw people off my trail for a few more years...