Adam Back Denies He’s Satoshi Nakamoto, Says It’s ‘Coincidence And Similar Phrases’

Inventor of Hashcash and 55-year-old cryptographer Adam Back, on Wednesday, denied allegations in a New York Times report that he may be the inventor behind Bitcoin (BTC), Satoshi Nakamoto.

“I'm not Satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash,” Back said in a post on X. “Hence my ~1992 onwards active interest in applied research on ecash, privacy tech on cypherpunks list, which led to hashcash and other ideas.”

According to the New York Times report, Back not only had the skills and ideas to build Bitcoin, but also linguistic analysis of his work showed “sociolinguistic fingerprints” that overlap with the corpus of texts attributed to Satoshi.

Back stated that the linguistic analysis is just a “combination of coincidence and similar phrases.” He said he and others like him have gotten "so close yet so far" in design discussions the decade before Satoshi, but it doesn’t make them the creators of Bitcoin. 

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Several people have been suspected of being Satoshi Nakamoto over the years, and a smaller number have publicly claimed to be Satoshi. The most serious claim by Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist, was by courts and researchers.

Those suspected of being Satoshi, other than Back, include Hal Finney, an early crypto pioneer and one of the first Bitcoin developers. Some speculate he may have helped write the Bitcoin whitepaper, but Finney has always denied the allegations of being the sole creator. 

Nick Szabo, a computer scientist and cryptographer known for “bit gold,” an early version of Bitcoin, has also been suspected of being Satoshi due to his linguistic style. He has also repeatedly denied being Satoshi. Even Block (XYZ) CEO Jack Dorsey was accused of being Satoshi at one point. He also brushed off all speculation.

“I also don't know who Satoshi is, and I think it is good for Bitcoin that this is the case, as it helps Bitcoin be viewed [as] a new asset class, the mathematically scarce digital commodity,” Back wrote.

On-chain data showed Nakamoto holds more than 1 million BTC, worth around $78.4 billion at current prices. Bitcoin’s price was up nearly 4% over the past 24 hours, to around $71,600 in early morning trade on Wednesday. Retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency improved to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’ territory over the past day, accompanied by ‘normal’ levels of chatter. 

Read also: Who Is Satoshi? New NYT Investigation Says Linguistic Analysis Points To Real Bitcoin Creator — And He's Denied It Before

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