In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, Adam Cochran, a prominent crypto analyst, put forward a compelling argument that Hal Finney might be the real person behind the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin BTC/USD.
What Happened: Cochran’s posts on X present a detailed timeline of events that suggest Finney’s involvement in the creation and development of Bitcoin. The tweets also imply that Finney’s deteriorating health might have been a factor in Nakamoto’s decision to step back from the project.
Finney, a well-known figure in the crypto community, was the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction from Nakamoto in 2009. He was also a key contributor to the development of the cryptocurrency.
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According to Cochran, Nakamoto’s disappearance in 2010 coincided with Finney’s declining health and his re-emergence aligned with Finney’s renewed activity in the Bitcoin community.
Finney, who was diagnosed with ALS, continued to work on Bitcoin-related projects until his passing in 2014. Cochran’s tweets suggest that Finney’s health and his role in the Bitcoin project could be strong indicators of his true identity as Nakamoto.
"At the end of the day, I think Hal had some other small contributor early on who left the project. But the bulk of Satoshi was him," Cochran said.
The analyst said that in one of his final writings, Finney talked about the mysterious creator of Bitcoin saying how challenging it is to uncover the identity of someone who has concealed their tracks so well throughout their life.
Cochran went on to say that some big supporters of Bitcoin don’t like the idea of Finney being Satoshi. This is because he had progressive ideas about what Bitcoin could become. He advocated for making Bitcoin more environmentally friendly, and supported the idea of forks and more.
"That doesn’t fit with the never change Bitcoin maxi narrative," the analyst said.
Why It Matters: As opposed to Cochran's argument, Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Bitcoin custody firm Casa has previously said, "Hal Finney was a legendary Cypherpunk, but he was not Satoshi."
Lopp provided evidence countering the idea that Finney could be Nakamoto. The central point of his argument revolved around the timeline of activity for both individuals on April 18, 2009.
During this specific day, Finney took part in a 10-mile race in Santa Barbara, California, which began at 8 a.m. Pacific time and concluded 78 minutes later.
Meanwhile, Nakamoto was observed being active online, participating in email conversations with early Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn that were timestamped. Furthermore, Nakamoto also verified a Bitcoin transaction during this period.
To counter this, Cochran said, "We can see from his emails with other contributors, Satoshi frequently sought out support and involvement of others. And all his communication times fell in the PST timezone rage. But some of his emails still have commonwealth spellings."
The true identity of Nakamoto has been a long-standing mystery in the crypto world. Several individuals have been speculated to be Nakamoto, including Dr. Craig Wright, who is currently facing a trial in the U.K. to determine his claim as the creator of Bitcoin.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $51,063, up 0.3% over the past 24 hours, according to the data from Benzinga Pro.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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