4 ms·

"What?" The police officer balks. "This is the guy who created Bitcoin? It looks like he's living a pretty humble life." That quote smells totally fake to me.

"What?" The police officer balks. "This is the guy who created Bitcoin? It looks like he's living a pretty humble life." That quote smells totally fake to me. There's just no way some random office would know what Bitcoin is, and even if he did, that's not something a police officer would say. I don't know what that says about the rest of the article, but that quote doesn't read very factual to me.

dagw 13y ago
Bitcoin is all over mainstream media. Its ups and downs are covered in the finance section of even the most old school and conservative of newspapers. Hell my father-in-law knows what bitcoin is, and he is about as far behind on the technology curve as you can get.
- carrja99 13y ago
  This. My mother can barely use her computer and yet she knows what bitcoin is too. My parents even brought it up in conversation the last time they visited.
watty 13y ago
Why couldn't a random officer know what Bitcoin is? My father heard of it and knows nothing about technology. It's no longer a secretive online currency, it's everywhere.
- xsace 13y ago
  yeah but it doesn't mean everyone know the name of Satoshi
- joncrocks 13y ago
  If you read the article, it suggests that the police officer is told that the person is Satoshi Nakamoto and the officer exclaims: "What?" The police officer balks. "This is the guy who created Bitcoin?" I can accept that the man on the street would have heard about bitcoin, but to know the name of the person who did the original work on the currency? That just seems a bit unlikely.
  - sarreph 13y ago
    I also find this incredibly dubious.
  - FatalLogic 13y ago
    Obviously the conversation has been heavily edited. Nobody really speaks so clearly and succinctly. To me, it looks probable that she really said something like "I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto. I think he's the man who created Bitcoin" So she prepped the police officer to deliver the quote that she wanted "This is the guy who created Bitcoin?", by planting the suggestion first.
  - ajanuary 13y ago
    It's not a stretch to imagine the conversation went something along the lines of ""I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto, he created Bitcoin." and a little bit of creative license was taken with the reporting. It still colours the article, but perhaps not so strongly.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
joncrocks 13y ago
Yeah, sounds like artistic license to me.
jtbigwoo 13y ago
In the mainstream media, Bitcoin = Silk Road = Drugs. It's not too surprising a random cop would know about that.
mbrubeck 13y ago
The quote does sound odd, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were an embellishment or paraphrase. But you know, the New York Times has been running stories on Bitcoin for a couple of years now. It's been all over CNN and other mainstream news sources. The New Yorker printed a feature about Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2011 [1]. Popular TV shows like The Daily Show have talked about Bitcoin [2]. Newspapers are printing political cartoons about it [3]. The Washington Post has three Bitcoin headlines on the front page of its web site this morning! (One about MtGOX, one on Nakamoto, and one on Autumn Radtke.) Anyone who has read, watched, or listened to news in the past year has a good chance of knowing some stuff about Bitcoin, just like they know that Steve Jobs died and what Google Glass is. The name Satoshi Nakamoto is reasonably memorable and distinctive. And law enforcement officers in particular might have some professional curiosity about the Bitcoin economy. [1]: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_davis http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_... [2]: http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/02/daily-show-helps-you-figure-out-whole-bitcoin-business/358667/ http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/02/daily-show-help... [3]: http://buttcoin.org/bitcoin-hardy-har-har http://buttcoin.org/bitcoin-hardy-har-har
neurobro 13y ago
Supposing there is some truth to the quote, I have to assume she skipped over the part where she told the police officer "He is the guy who created Bitcoin."
natch 13y ago
>There's just no way some random office would know what Bitcoin is.. "no way"... You lost me and your credibility with that one.
davesque 13y ago
Good call. That's what I thought.

dagw 13y ago

Bitcoin is all over mainstream media. Its ups and downs are covered in the finance section of even the most old school and conservative of newspapers. Hell my father-in-law knows what bitcoin is, and he is about as far behind on the technology curve as you can get.

carrja99 13y ago
This. My mother can barely use her computer and yet she knows what bitcoin is too. My parents even brought it up in conversation the last time they visited.

watty 13y ago

Why couldn't a random officer know what Bitcoin is? My father heard of it and knows nothing about technology. It's no longer a secretive online currency, it's everywhere.

xsace 13y ago
yeah but it doesn't mean everyone know the name of Satoshi
joncrocks 13y ago
If you read the article, it suggests that the police officer is told that the person is Satoshi Nakamoto and the officer exclaims: "What?" The police officer balks. "This is the guy who created Bitcoin?" I can accept that the man on the street would have heard about bitcoin, but to know the name of the person who did the original work on the currency? That just seems a bit unlikely.
- sarreph 13y ago
  I also find this incredibly dubious.
- FatalLogic 13y ago
  Obviously the conversation has been heavily edited. Nobody really speaks so clearly and succinctly. To me, it looks probable that she really said something like "I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto. I think he's the man who created Bitcoin" So she prepped the police officer to deliver the quote that she wanted "This is the guy who created Bitcoin?", by planting the suggestion first.
- ajanuary 13y ago
  It's not a stretch to imagine the conversation went something along the lines of ""I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto, he created Bitcoin." and a little bit of creative license was taken with the reporting. It still colours the article, but perhaps not so strongly.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

joncrocks 13y ago

Yeah, sounds like artistic license to me.

jtbigwoo 13y ago

In the mainstream media, Bitcoin = Silk Road = Drugs. It's not too surprising a random cop would know about that.

mbrubeck 13y ago

The quote does sound odd, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were an embellishment or paraphrase. But you know, the New York Times has been running stories on Bitcoin for a couple of years now. It's been all over CNN and other mainstream news sources. The New Yorker printed a feature about Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2011 [1]. Popular TV shows like The Daily Show have talked about Bitcoin [2]. Newspapers are printing political cartoons about it [3]. The Washington Post has three Bitcoin headlines on the front page of its web site this morning! (One about MtGOX, one on Nakamoto, and one on Autumn Radtke.) Anyone who has read, watched, or listened to news in the past year has a good chance of knowing some stuff about Bitcoin, just like they know that Steve Jobs died and what Google Glass is. The name Satoshi Nakamoto is reasonably memorable and distinctive. And law enforcement officers in particular might have some professional curiosity about the Bitcoin economy. [1]: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_davis http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_... [2]: http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/02/daily-show-helps-you-figure-out-whole-bitcoin-business/358667/ http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/02/daily-show-help... [3]: http://buttcoin.org/bitcoin-hardy-har-har http://buttcoin.org/bitcoin-hardy-har-har

neurobro 13y ago

Supposing there is some truth to the quote, I have to assume she skipped over the part where she told the police officer "He is the guy who created Bitcoin."

natch 13y ago

>There's just no way some random office would know what Bitcoin is.. "no way"... You lost me and your credibility with that one.

davesque 13y ago

Good call. That's what I thought.