Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto probably Australian entrepreneur, reports claim

[mister]

The creator of the digital currency bitcoin, known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, is probably an Australian entrepreneur, according to two new investigations.

Wired and Gizmodo have published separate stories suggesting that Nakamoto’s real identity is Craig Steven Wright, a 45-year-old Australian described by Wired as a “climate-change denier, a serial entrepreneur ... and an eccentric.” Various attempts to prove Nakamoto’s identity in the past have proved unsuccessful.
Bitcoin: what you need to know
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Wired has linked Wright to bitcoin by several posts on his blog, starting with one published in August 2008 that mentioned his intention to release a “cryptocurrency paper”.

Another, published three months later, asked that readers used a PGP public key that has reportedly been linked to Nakamoto. A PGP public key is a unique string of characters that allows a user of that encryption software to receive encrypted messages.

In a post dated 10 January 2009 but later deleted, Wright reportedly announced the launch of the beta of bitcoin “tomorrow”; Wired points out that Wright, living on Australia’s east coast, could have published the post after midnight his time on the night of 9 January, which would still have been before bitcoin’s launch at 3pm on 9 January in US time, when the currency officially launched.

Wright’s blog was accessible on Wednesday morning, but was taken down completely shortly after the Wired article was published.

Wired’s article notes that three of the “smoking gun” posts on Wright’s blog had been edited since publication “to insert evidence of his bitcoin history”. The investigation is also based on a cache of leaked emails and accounting forms. The article claims that Wright mortgaged three properties and invested more than $US1m in computers, power and connectivity to launch the cryptocurrency.

After Wired contacted Wright, they received a response from a previously unknown email account – sent from an IP address previously associated with emails sent by Nakamoto – but were not granted an interview.

More here........

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/09/bitcoin-creator-satoshi-nakamoto-alleged-to-be-australian-academic?CMP=soc_567

And here.........

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/09/bitcoin-founder-craig-wrights-home-raided-by-australian-police?CMP=soc_567

 

[Jabberwocky]

Bitcoin: Sydney home of suspected founder Craig Steven Wright raided by AFP over ATO warrant

Australian Federal Police have raided the home of a Sydney-based technology entrepreneur who has been identified as the suspected inventor of digital currency Bitcoin.

The raid was carried out this morning at the home of Dr Craig Steven Wright on a warrant issued by the Australian Taxation Office, the AFP said.

However, the police operation is not believed to be related to reports in two technology publications — Wired and Gizmodo — that this morning published claims based on leaked documents that provide some of the best evidence yet that Dr Wright was the co-creator of internet currency Bitcoin.

The ABC is unable to independently verify the authenticity of the documents.

Calls to companies run by Dr Wright have not been returned.

The inventor of Bitcoin remains one of the internet's biggest mysteries, since the paper outlining the vision for Bitcoin and the code for the software were released in 2008 and 2009.

Last year, US publication NewsWeek alleged the currency's creator was Californian man Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, who immediately denied any involvement.

But while Dr Wright may not be the inventor, he has been interested in the technology for years.

"I've been involved with all this for a long time," he told the Bitcoin Investor Conference in October.

"I keep my head down."

Asked if his involvement in Bitcoin was "mining", slang for using computation power to power the Bitcoin technology and keep the transactions moving, Dr Wright paused before saying "a long time ago".

Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency that is decentralised and operates using a peer-to-peer network.

Unlike other currencies, it has no central authority or government-based backing.

Bitcoin is essentially a code that is traded between two people, with the transaction confirmed by other users on the peer-to-peer network and added to the continuous "blockchain" — a public ledger of all Bitcoin transactions.

It was created by someone under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto.

The Wired and Gizmodo reports suggest Dr Wright and American computer expert Dave Kleiman, who died in 2013, were involved in the development of Bitcoin.

Wright heads up Bitcoin-related businesses

On his LinkedIn professional profile, Dr Wright lists himself as having been a trustee of the Uniting Church's United Financial Services (UFS) for the past eight years.

The Uniting Church said that was incorrect. It said Dr Wright is a member of the trust's association, but the UFS does not have any trustees.

It does have a board of directors but Dr Wright is not one of them.

Dr Wright told the Bitcoin Investor Conference he was "a former academic who these days does research commercially, which no-one ever hears about".

"Which suits me," he said.

Dr Wright said he had "a couple of doctorates" and a masters in law and statistics.

"I forget actually what I've got these days," he said.

He also currently heads up Bitcoin-related businesses, one of which in May boasted it controlled one of the fastest super-computers in the world.

"We expect that this will place us in the top 20 super-computers globally and the fastest computer managed in the southern hemisphere, accelerating Australia into a position that is well above its weight," the press release from company DeMorgan claimed.

The website Top500 listed the computer as being the 15th fastest, in its June 2015 listing, with 265,440 cores pushing out a phenomenal 3,521 teraflops per second and 251,904 GB of RAM.

As of November the computer has slipped to 17th position.

He has also talked of moving operations to Iceland, because it is "cheaper".

"It's much, much cheaper to run computers in Iceland to run computers and the main one we've got at the moment is called Tulip," he said, referring to his super-computer.

The ABC has also spoken to former neighbours of Dr Wright, who said he spent a long time building networks and fiddling with servers.

"He was highly intelligent, but often stuck to himself," one neighbour said.

"He was really into his computers in the garage, servers mainly. Heaps of cabling."

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...under-craig-wright-home-raided-by-afp/7014254

 

[spacejunk]

Wow. Just wow.

 

[poledriver]

Silk Road: US agent jailed over bitcoin theft

A former US Secret Service agent has been jailed for six years for stealing electronic currency while investigating the Silk Road online marketplace, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Shaun Bridges took $820,000 (£546,000) in bitcoin after accessing Silk Road.
He admitted money laundering and obstruction charges in August.

US District Judge Richard Seeborg said Bridges' behaviour was a "shocking and reprehensible abandonment of his public duty".
Passing sentence on Monday, the judge said "This, to me, is an extremely serious crime consisting of the betrayal of public trust by a federal law enforcement agent," the AP reported.
"And from everything I see, it was motivated entirely by greed."

As a member of the US Secret Service, Bridges was part of a task force investigating the Silk Road marketplace, which was used by some to trade illegal items. It was closed in 2013 following raids by the FBI and other agencies.
'Illustrious career'

Having gained access to the online bazaar, Bridges stole the online currency and tried to pin it on a witness who was cooperating with the investigation, prompting Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht to take out hits on the witness' life, prosecutors said at Monday's hearing.
The judge said it was "inexcusable" for a federal agent to put a cooperating witness at risk in that way. Bridges told the judge before his sentencing that he had accepted responsibility for his crime and had not spent any of the money he took.
"I obviously have lost a lot, a very illustrious career," he said. His lawyer sought a three-year sentence, but the judge gave him a jail term of five years and 11 months, the AP reported.

Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in May after he was convicted over his operation of the website for nearly three years from 2011 until his 2013 arrest.
Prosecutors said he collected $18m in bitcoin through commissions on tens of thousands of drug sales while operating the site using the alias, "Dread Pirate Roberts," an apparent reference to a main character in "The Princess Bride," the 1987 comedy film based on a novel of the same name.

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent on the Silk Road task force, Carl Force, was charged separately with selling information about the investigation and pleaded guilty to extortion and other charges. He was sentenced to six years in prison in October.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35038971

 

[thujone]

1) why is this in DiTM? 2) the U.S. agent jailed has nothing to do with the thread topic, 3) the thread topic has already been ruthlessly discredited on r/Bitcoin

 

[mister]

1) why is this in DiTM? 2) the U.S. agent jailed has nothing to do with the thread topic, 3) the thread topic has already been ruthlessly discredited on r/Bitcoin

1) Bitcoin has been intrinsically linked to the purchase of drugs from online drug markets. 2) Once again, Bitcoins were/are the main currency used to purchase illicit drugs on the now defunct Silkroad. 3) These news articles appeared yesterday.

The use of Bitcoin changed the way people bought and traded illicit drugs

 

[poledriver]

Yeah what mister said. I didn't wont to start a new thread for my post so I just wacked it in here.

If a mod wonts to move or remove it that is fine with me.

 

[thujone]

yeah I uh, didn't mean to come off so snippy, sorry. Bitcoin has many other uses though, just like cash. We all lose out when Bitcoin gets related to criminality because then instead of adopting it and enjoying the other uses, the public just thinks "oh well it's for criminals and I'm not a criminal so I don't need Bitcoin". Meanwhile the central banks are waging a currency war to see who can devalue their currency the most, raping the value of your paycheque and savings. People need to get with the program, the future of currency is shit like Bitcoin not fiat money. Bitcoin is still being fine-tuned and already it has significant advantages over cash, in the future it's going to steamroll fiat just like Uber steamrolled the taxicab industry.