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I still don't understand why people so desperately want to find out who or what is behind Satoshi. It could be a person, it could be multiple persons, but what'
by cm3 10y ago
I still don't understand why people so desperately want to find out who or what is behind Satoshi. It could be a person, it could be multiple persons, but what's to gain by identifying someone who gave the world something that's generally found useful, and all they asked for was privacy? Either you trust it or you don't. If you do not, what secret entity could be useful to be discovered behind the Satoshi identifier for you to trust it more or less?
I mean, for instance, I'm unaware of people trying to identify all members of the PaX team.
EDIT: For a community that asks for privacy in many instances, it's interesting we support the search to uncover what's behind the Satoshi identifier.
- bdcravens 10y agoWhat makes Satoshi unique is that he/she/them sits on premined Bitcoins worth hundreds of millions of dollars, that while 100% transparent, hasn't moved or been cashed in. That alone is a peculiarity and makes for an interesting person. Add to that the fact that once those coins start to move, it has the potential to affect the wealth of those who hold Bitcoin, for better or worse. Future changes to Bitcoin are hotly contested, and often Satoshi's intent is thrown in to the discussion, and these changes will likely affect many. Were a verified Satoshi to weigh in, it would carry significant impact.
- cm3 10y agoInteresting entity, sure, but how do you expect them to cash the coins, if they have people trying to uncover the identity? Also, are those coins not theirs to do with whatever they want to? I fail to see the point but admittedly I'm not intimately familiar with the Bitcoin communities. I also don't see how Satoshi's opinion can change anything with regards to the dilemma of the technical limitations people have been debating about. Unless Satoshi would come up with a solution nobody thought of yet. Why should their opinion weigh more than others' and it's unlikely to prevent a split.
- bdcravens 10y agoI'm not challenging Satoshi's rights. Only stating that with so much riding on those early coins, its natural that stakeholders would prefer a bit less mystery. All things equal, Satoshi's input isn't more or less valuable in the technology debates, but the community has given Satoshi messiah-like status.
- kneel 10y agoI'm sure Satoshi has coins that others don't know about, the early blocks were all Satoshi but later blocks were mined by dozens of enthusiasts. Satoshi could have easily made an anonymous fortune in the early days. I imagine Satoshi is out there keeping a close eye on the cryptocurrency scene. Maybe one day if action is needed (funding infrastructure, adoption of a bitcoin successor, destroying bitcoin??) he will put the early blocks into motion.
- erelde 10y agoMaybe they just left the field entirely? Burned out? They could even be dead for all we know. If I was them, I really don't know if I'd keep a close eye on the "scene". I'm sure some people know that feeling of just stopping to care for something. But on the other hand, they must have been really passionnate. But that could fuel an even stronger "no longer caring" feeling. Rambling out loud.
- kneel 10y agoI think Satoshi disappeared b/c he was concerned about his privacy after wikileaks blowup. This is his 3rd to last post ever, it was concerning an article in PC World about bitcoin. >"It would have been nice to get this attention in any other context. WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet's nest, and the swarm is headed towards us."
- jonathankoren 10y agoOr he lost the password. Or the coins were in cold storage on a disk that crashed. Or maybe he simply deleted the first few because in the early days they were worthless. Those are just some scenarios that strike me as a hell of a lot more plausible than someone sitting on a fortune for the hell of it. Why? Because we've all experienced those things.
- vithlani 10y agoI very much doubt somebody as technically capable as Satoshi (or the collective known as Satoshi) would be hit by any of these scenarios.
- gozur88 10y agoAs far as I can tell, it's been five years since anyone heard from a person provably Satoshi. It's entirely possible he got hit by a bus and his heirs, not knowing what they were, discarded his keys.
- alphapapa 10y ago"PaX Team" is one guy. His name may be undisclosed or uncommonly known, but the fact that it's one person is not secret. He's explained how "PaX Team" came to be and why it's one person.
- rdiddly 10y agoBecause in the end we're still just apes, not content to go through life without an alpha-ape on whom to focus all our adoration or aggression.