Bitcoin founder(s) remains an enigma
Bitcoin, the four-year-old virtual currency that approximates cash on the internet, now powers an economy worth more than $1 billion and is widely admired for the technical sophistication that allows it to operate without a central authority. It got its own ticker on CNBC and inspired a legion of startups. And yet, we still don’t know where it came from.
Bitcoin was first introduced to the world by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, a persona that communicated by email and in the official Bitcoin forum before abruptly disappearing. No one has ever met him, or at least no one who will admit to it. No one knows if Nakamoto is male or female. His (or her) early emails even refer to a "we."
Both The New Yorker and Fast Company tried and failed to unmask Nakamoto. The ongoing crowdsourced investigation hasn’t done any better. "People analyze Satoshi's written words, trying to divine if he speaks native British English, American English, or learned the language as a second language," said Jeff Garzik, a developer who works on the Bitcoin Project and emailed with Nakamoto in the early days."They analyze his posting dates, trying to guess his local time zone. It's all part of the fun."
