Glossary

Definitions & explanations of terms associated with cryptocurrency trading.

Glossary > Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto

Satoshi Nakamoto is the assumed pseudonym of the person or group who invented Bitcoin, wrote the Bitcoin white paper, and deployed Bitcoin's original reference implementation. Their real identity remains unknown, even more than a decade after Bitcoin’s invention.

Additional information:

  • Bitcoin first came into existence in October 2008 when its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, published a paper on virtual cryptocurrency entitled 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' on the mailing list for cryptography at metzdowd.com. According to some reports, Nakamoto started working on Bitcoin in 2007 and also registered the domain 'bitcoin.org'. In 2009, with Bitcoin's version 0.1 release, Satoshi mined the genesis block (the first block) of the Bitcoin network.

  • In mid-2010, Gavin Andresen was given control of the network alert key and source code repository by Satoshi. He also transferred domains to various prominent members of the Bitcoin community. Today, Satoshi’s bitcoins remain unspent.

  • There has been much speculation regarding Satoshi’s real identity. While Satoshi himself claimed to be Japanese, this remains an unconfirmed attribute.

  • In the crypto price boom of 2020, the total valuation of Satoshi’s bitcoins crossed US$40 billion.