Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? Conspiracy theories about Bitcoin founder go into overdrive

The mystery of who invented Bitcoin has reached fever pitch after it emerged that Apple Mac computers contain a hidden manifesto dedicated to the cryptocurrency.

It spawned a litany of conspiracy theories with crypto obsessives speculating that the late Apple founder Steve Jobs was behind the billion-dollar venture.

Bitcoin was created in 2008 by ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ – a name long thought to be a pseudonym – in response to the financial crisis.

It has become the world’s largest cryptocurrency worth about $540 billion according to CoinMarketCap data on Monday.

In addition, the value of Bitcoin is up 68 percent this year as the economic uncertainty caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has made customers suspicious of mainstream companies.

It potentially makes Nakamoto one of the richest people in the world – though very little is known about his identity.

Crypto fans noted that April 5 marked the founder’s unofficial 48th birthday, according to information on a profile at The P2P Foundation.

Here Daily Mail collects the most popular theories about the so-called ‘Father of Bitcoin’…

Steve Jobs

The internet went into a frenzy last week after it emerged that a Nakamoto white paper was hidden on every Mac computer sold since 2018.

The discovery was made by tech blogger Andy Baio and sparked speculation that the Bitcoin founder and the Apple genius were related in some way.

The paper – titled ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Money System’ outlines the case for the global adoption of digital currencies. It was first published in October 2008.

Crypto investor Lark Davis pointed out that Nakamoto seemed to disappear in 2010 – a year before Jobs died.

“The timeline fits,” he wrote on Twitter.

Separately, Jason Williams, author of Bitcoin: Hard Money You Can’t F*ck With, said on the platform, “Steve Jobs is Satoshi Nakamoto. I am serious.’

However, others were quick to point out that Apple temporarily banned Bitcoin from its app store in 2014 due to concerns about volatile cryptocurrencies.

Craig White

An Australian computer scientist came forward and claimed to have created Bitcoin in a 2021 lawsuit.

The case – heard in Miami – arose after the family of his former business partner demanded a share in his assets.

David Kleiman’s family claimed that he and White formed Nakamoto’s identity together.

White was ordered to pay $100 million in damages to Kleiman’s family after a jury suspected he had violated intellectual property rights.

However, the case did not rule on whether the pair had found Bitcoin on their own.

Those embedded in the crypto community have remained skeptical of White’s claims.

Dorian Nakamoto

In 2014, Newsweek ran a story called “The Face Behind Bitcoin” that claimed the father had been exposed as retired physicist Dorian Nakamoto.

Columnist Leah McGrath Goodwin claims that when she visited him at his California home, he told her he was “no longer involved in that,” adding that he “can’t talk about it.”

However, after the article was published, the Japanese-American scientist insisted that he had misunderstood Goodman’s questions.

He also claimed that he had never heard of Bitcoin before the article was published.

However, he has remained the most plausible choice among the crypto community.

Other names linked to Bitcoin’s founder

Computer scientist Nick Szabo came under scrutiny for his connection to the cryptocurrency after it emerged that he had written a research paper based on “bit gold” in 1998.

The paper was seen as a precursor to bitcoin.

However, the American man – who was of Hungarian descent – had always denied any involvement.

Other candidates identified include the government and various computer scientists.

Even billionaire Twitter CEO Elon Musk had to deny being Nakamoto in a 2017 tweet.