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Controversy heats up over identity of Bitcoin inventor

Posted March. 08, 2014 01:12,   

한국어

There are heated controversies over U.S. weekly magazine Newsweek`s cover story that claimed to have identified the elusive founder of the world`s most popular digital currency called “bitcoin.”

In the first print edition in 15 months, Newsweek on Thursday ran a cover story titled "The Face Behind Bitcoin," which reported that Dorian S. Nakamoto, 64, who is living in the suburbs of Los Angeles, is the creator of the digital currency. There have been wild speculations about the identity of the man who stirred up the online community by posting a proposal for bitcoin under the name of "Satoshi Nakamoto." So far, the bitcoin creator has been known to own 400 million U.S. dollars` worth of the digital currency but has not withdrawn the money yet and to be suffering from a cancer.

Assuming that the name is not a pseudonym, Newsweek said it identified Dorian S. Nakamoto after scouring various databases. The magazine reported that it found the man`s previous name was "Satoshi Nakamoto" and worked at Hughes Aircraft and in the field of information technology. The facts that he graduated from California State Polytechnic University with a degree in physics and that he showed talent in mathematics, science and engineering raised the possibility that he was the one. Newsweek exchanged e-mails with him and interviewed computer programmers who participated in the bitcoin development for verifications.

After two months of investigation, a Newsweek reporter finally met him in person. "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," he told the reporter, with police officers in attendance, according to Newsweek. Right after the Newsweek report, however, he had an interview with the Associated Press, saying that he had never heard of bitcoin until he was contacted by Newsweek three weeks ago. The AP quoted him as saying that the part in which he said "he was no longer involved" was misunderstood, as he was referring to his former job.