A new perspective on an old investigation may shed light on the whereabouts of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin (BTC).
At the very least, it should shed light on his whereabouts while he was working on Bitcoin.
A recent report has found that London was the most likely place where Satoshi Nakamoto worked on Crypto Bull scam between 2008 and 2010.
Was the inventor of Bitcoin Londoner?
The author of the report, Doncho Karaivanov, reviewed several factors to justify the conclusion. These included an analysis of the time stamps of Satoshi’s published materials, his use of regional colloquialisms and spelling, and the fact that the Times‘ headline embedded in the Genesis block was specific to the English print version of the magazine.
The idea that Satoshi was British is not new. Hundreds of journalists, sniffer dogs and investigators have thoroughly examined the traces of the activities of the creator of Bitcoin and searched the Internet for clues that lead to its origins. But this latest report in The Chain Bulletin provides additional information to previous analyses. Among other things, it highlights the likelihood that Satoshi must have been referring to the print edition of the Times when he encoded the now famous January 3, 2009 headline in the Genesis block of Bitcoin.
Only the print edition of the Times, which is distributed in England, used the headline „Chancellor on the edge of second bailout for banks“, while the online edition included the Chancellor’s name in the headline. The US edition of the newspaper did not contain the story at all.
Karaivanov analyzed reader data, which showed that about 43% of the Times‘ readership is based in London. This data, combined with the fact that London is the largest financial center in the world, makes it very likely that Satoshi could have lived in London between 2008 and 2010.
Time stamps can provide information about Satoshi’s stay
Karaivanov’s analysis of time-stamped material posted by Satoshi (including postings on Bitcointalk, emails sent to the early developers of Bitcoin, and commits to the Bitcoin repository on SourceForge) provides additional evidence that Satoshi may have resided in the GMT (UK) time zone. However, he concedes that Satoshi’s pattern of posting could also reflect someone who lived in the EST (US East Coast) or PST (US West Coast) time zones.
Among the time zones that were completely excluded were those that included Japan (where Satoshi is said to have come from according to his P2P Foundation profile) and Australia, which, according to Karaivanov, „was not even remotely possible“ unless Satoshi was „a vampire“.
Is the search for Satoshi dangerous for Bitcoin?
The statement that Satoshi probably lived in London between 2008 and 2010 is not relevant to everyone. For example, a Reddit user commented on the findings that Satoshi was in London while working on Bitcoin with the following words:
In another breaking news story, Santa Claus may have been living at the North Pole while working on toys for infants.
Moreover, not everyone in the Bitcoin industry is interested in uncovering Satoshi’s origins or identity. On the contrary, some even consider it counterproductive for Bitcoin and its entire movement.
One person is always a target, and opponents might take advantage of that to try to possibly undermine the whole idea behind Bitcoin. In addition, Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, noted that it would be unwise for Satoshi to reveal himself publicly. Blockstream’s position is that Satoshi’s identity should not be speculated upon, as the activity „violates the ideals of Cypherpunk.