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Satoshi Nakamoto

The pseudonym of Bitcoin’s creator. Wrote the whitepaper, launched the network, ran the project for two years and vanished. Who he is remains unknown.

Active
Oct 2008 – Apr 2011
Coins (estimate)
~1.1M BTC
At today’s price
$91.8B
Identity
unknown

In 30 seconds

  • On 31 October 2008 someone calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto published a description of Bitcoin: money that needs no bank.
  • On 3 January 2009 he started the network. In April 2011 he wrote that he had “moved on to other things” and was never heard from again.
  • Researchers estimate he mined about 1.1 million BTC and never spent them. That is an estimate, not a fact.
  • Nobody knows who he is. Craig Wright claimed to be Satoshi; a London court ruled in 2024 that he is not.

What is known for sure

  • “Satoshi Nakamoto” is a pseudonym. The real name, country and age are not established.
  • Public activity: from 31 October 2008 (the whitepaper email) to 12 December 2010 (the last forum post). The last known private emails date from April 2011 [Mike Hearn’s published Satoshi emails (thread 5)].
  • Everything he wrote in public is archived by the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute: emails, forum posts and the whitepaper.
  • The early code is open; its history continues in the Bitcoin Core repository — see /code.

Timeline

  1. October 31, 2008
    The whitepaper

    “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” is sent to the cryptography mailing list (18:10 UTC). [SNI][Bitcoin whitepaper (bitcoin.org)]

  2. January 3, 2009
    Genesis block

    Block 0 is mined at 18:15 UTC. Its coinbase carries the headline “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”. [mempool.space]

  3. January 8, 2009
    Bitcoin v0.1 released

    Satoshi announces the first release of the software on the mailing list. [SNI]

  4. January 12, 2009
    First transaction: 10 BTC to Hal Finney

    In block 170 Satoshi sends 10 BTC to Hal Finney as a test. [mempool.space][Hal Finney]

  5. February 11, 2009
    P2P Foundation post

    Satoshi explains why money built on trust in a central bank is the root problem. [SNI]

  6. November 22, 2009
    The forum that became BitcoinTalk

    Satoshi opens the new Bitcoin forum and reposts the old threads. [SNI]

  7. December 11, 2010
    “WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet’s nest”

    A warning against attention from WikiLeaks donations. [SNI]

  8. December 12, 2010
    Last public forum post

    Version 0.3.19 with DoS limits. The last post on the forum; the last mailing-list email follows on 13 Dec. [SNI][SNI]

  9. April 23, 2011
    “I’ve moved on to other things”

    One of the last known private emails, to Mike Hearn, published by Hearn. [Mike Hearn’s published Satoshi emails (thread 5)]

  10. September 16, 2021
    Statue unveiled in Budapest

    A bronze bust with a reflective face (“we are all Satoshi”) opens in Graphisoft Park. [Statue of Satoshi (official site)][AP]

  11. March 14, 2024
    UK High Court: Craig Wright is not Satoshi

    Mr Justice Mellor rules that the evidence is overwhelming; full judgment on 20 May 2024. [COPA v Wright [2024] EWHC 1198 (Ch)][Reuters]

Discuss

Satoshi in his own words

Verbatim, each checked against the original.

“I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.”
October 31, 2008 · SNI: “Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper”, 31 Oct 2008
“It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.”
January 16, 2009 · SNI: “Bitcoin v0.1 released”, 16 Jan 2009
“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work.”
February 11, 2009 · SNI: P2P Foundation post, 11 Feb 2009
“The nature of Bitcoin is such that once version 0.1 was released, the core design was set in stone for the rest of its lifetime.”
June 17, 2010 · SNI: BitcoinTalk post, 17 Jun 2010
“Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.”
June 21, 2010 · SNI: BitcoinTalk “Re: Dying bitcoins”, 21 Jun 2010
“Writing a description for this thing for general audiences is bloody hard. There's nothing to relate it to.”
July 5, 2010 · SNI: BitcoinTalk post, 5 Jul 2010
“WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet's nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”
December 11, 2010 · SNI: BitcoinTalk post, 11 Dec 2010
“I've moved on to other things. It's in good hands with Gavin and everyone.”
April 23, 2011 · Mike Hearn’s published Satoshi emails (thread 5)
Discuss

How many coins: the Patoshi pattern

Estimate, not a fact
~1,100,000 BTC ≈ $91.8B

At $83,445 per BTC (Coinbase, Oct 12, 11:02 AM London).

Researcher Sergio Lerner spotted the fingerprint of a single miner in the early 2009–2010 blocks and called it Patoshi. In 2013 he counted 19,600 such blocks (980K BTC) [Sergio Lerner]; in 2019, with a more precise analysis, about 22,000 blocks, or about 1.1M BTC [Sergio Lerner]. That this miner was Satoshi is plausible but unproven. The coins are almost entirely unspent.

How it shows up: the coinbase ExtraNonce field of one miner climbs in steady slopes block after block, his blocks never go backwards in time (one clock on one computer), and his nonces sit in a narrow range. With these fingerprints Lerner tags the blocks with about 0.1% error. [Sergio Lerner]

Discuss

The genesis block and its address

Into the first block Satoshi wrote a headline from The Times of 3 January 2009. It is both a timestamp (the block could not exist earlier) and a comment on bank bailouts:

The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks [mempool.space]

Balance now (mempool.space)
57.5845 BTC

1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa

66,903 incoming transactions · updated Oct 12, 11:02 AM London

The first 50 BTC at this address can never be spent: the genesis reward was never added to the set of spendable coins. Everything else is gifts people send as a tribute. Not a single coin has ever left the address.

Discuss

Who is he? Theories and their status

Listed neutrally. None is proven.

  • Craig WrightRuled out by court

    Claimed to be Satoshi. On 14 March 2024 the UK High Court declared he is not the whitepaper’s author, not the person behind the pseudonym in 2008–2011 and not Bitcoin’s creator; the judge found he forged documents “on a grand scale”. [COPA v Wright [2024] EWHC 1198 (Ch)][Reuters]

  • Hal FinneyDenied

    Received the first transaction. Denied being Satoshi in 2014 (Forbes); his emails with Satoshi show two different people. Died in August 2014. [Hal Finney]

  • Nick SzaboDenied

    Designed “bit gold”. Has repeatedly denied being Satoshi. [Wikipedia]

  • Adam BackDenied

    Created Hashcash, cited in the whitepaper. Named by a New York Times investigation in April 2026; replied “i'm not satoshi”. [TechCrunch]

  • Peter ToddDenied

    Named by the HBO film “Money Electric” in October 2024; called the theory ludicrous. [CoinDesk]

  • Dorian NakamotoDenied

    Named by Newsweek in March 2014; told AP “I got nothing to do with it”. [AP]

Discuss

The statue in Budapest

On 16 September 2021, what its makers call the world’s first statue of Satoshi was unveiled in Graphisoft Park (Záhony u. 7, Budapest). The bronze bust is by Hungarian sculptors Réka Gergely and Tamás Gilly. Its face is a mirror: you see yourself — “we are all Satoshi”. [Statue of Satoshi (official site)] [AP]

Keep reading

Theories about Bitcoin →
Thought experiments: Bitcoin on Mars and more
Wiki →
The Bitcoin encyclopedia in plain words
Bitcoin code →
The repository that grew from Satoshi’s code

FAQ

Is Satoshi one person?

Nobody knows. Satoshi wrote as “I”, but whether that is one person or a group is not proven.

Has Satoshi ever moved his coins?

Coins in the Patoshi blocks are, with very few exceptions, unspent. The ownership of those blocks is itself an estimate.

Can the genesis coins be spent?

No. The 50 BTC reward of block 0 was never added to the set of spendable coins, so the code cannot spend it. Everything else at that address is gifts sent later by people.

Sources

Checked October 12, 2026. Not investment advice.