The mystery of the magnitude: Why does the creator of Bitcoin remain silent?

If you believe the information from the P2P Foundation profile, Satoshi Nakamoto will turn fifty in 2025. However, most experts in the cryptocurrency community are convinced that this date is not based on reality but on symbolism. April 5th references the 1933 decree by Franklin Roosevelt that prohibited U.S. citizens from owning gold, and the year 1975 marks the moment when the ban was lifted. Bitcoin as digital gold, beyond the reach of the state—this is what the anonymous author intended to express with their date of birth.

Linguists and programmers who studied Nakamoto’s legacy arrived at an interesting conclusion: the style of typing with double spaces after periods, the use of Hungarian notation in code, archaic approaches to coding for 2008—all point to someone who learned to program before the era of personal computers. Many researchers suggest that Satoshi Nakamoto is actually closer to 60 than to 50.

How It All Began: A Revolution in 9 Pages

On October 31, 2008, the world was introduced to a white paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” The document was modest in length—only 9 pages—but revolutionary in content. It described a system that operates without banks and financial intermediaries, solving an ancient problem—how to ensure that a digital unit is not spent twice.

Three months later, Satoshi Nakamoto created the first blockchain block. It included a quote from The Times: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” This is not just a timestamp; it’s a message. While global banks floundered in the 2008 crisis, a currency was being born that they didn’t need.

Nakamoto’s technical genius in solving the double-spending problem lay in the proof-of-work system and a decentralized network of validators. For the first time in history, digital scarcity became possible without central control. It was a breakthrough.

An Unfathomable Wealth That No One Touched

Analysis of early Bitcoin blocks shows that Satoshi Nakamoto mined between 750,000 and 1.1 million coins in the initial years. At the current price of about $85,000 per coin, this amounts to a fortune in the range of $63.8 billion to $93.5 billion. This makes the creator of Bitcoin one of the 20 wealthiest people on the planet.

But what’s astonishing is that, over 16 years, none of these coins have been spent, transferred, or even touched. Nakamoto’s addresses have frozen in time. Cryptographic security researcher Sergio Demian Lerner identified a pattern in the mining activity called the “Patoshi pattern,” which allows tracking which blocks belonged to the creator. The results are clear: Nakamoto controlled a vast amount of Bitcoin and consciously reduced mining volumes, giving others a chance.

Why is nothing moving? Several theories exist. Maybe Nakamoto lost access to the keys. Maybe they are no longer alive. Maybe it’s a philosophical decision—to leave the wealth as a gift to the ecosystem. Or perhaps silence is the wisest form of protection: any movement of funds could reveal their identity through exchange procedures or blockchain analysis.

Who Are the Main Suspects?

Over the years, the name Satoshi Nakamoto has been attributed to dozens of individuals.

Hal Finney (1956-2014), cryptographer and the first recipient of a Bitcoin transaction from Nakamoto, was long considered the main suspect. He lived near Dorian Nakamoto in California, possessed the necessary knowledge, and linguistic analysis showed similarities in writing. But Finney denied involvement until his death.

Nick Szabo developed the concept of Bit Gold in 1998—an early predecessor of Bitcoin. His writings are strikingly similar in style to Nakamoto’s. Szabo’s expertise in cryptography and monetary theory aligns perfectly with Bitcoin’s architecture. Yet, he consistently denies it.

Adam Back created Hashcash, the proof-of-work algorithm mentioned in the white paper. One of the first people Nakamoto contacted. His candidacy is serious, but Back also denies.

Craig Wright was the only one who actively claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. He even registered copyrights for the white paper. However, in March 2024, a High Court judge in the UK definitively ruled: Wright is not the author of the white paper, and the documents he provided are forgeries.

In 2024, a documentary by HBO proposed a new version: Peter Todd, a Bitcoin developer. The film cites chat messages and the use of Canadian English. But Todd himself called this version “ridiculous.”

There is also an opinion that Nakamoto is not a single person but a group. Possibly a combination of some of the above.

Why Disappearance Was Necessary

This is where Nakamoto’s genius lies. Imagine: if the creator remained in the public eye, Bitcoin would inevitably have a center of influence. Governments would pressure, competitors would bribe, their words would cause market storms. Every statement could provoke a fork.

Nakamoto’s disappearance is not just a matter of personal security (although it is). It’s a philosophical statement: Bitcoin does not need a leader, does not need the charisma of its creator. The network lives on its own.

This fundamentally differs from other crypto projects where founders stay visible and thus become vulnerable points of the network. Nakamoto chose another path: to teach people to trust mathematics and code, not personalities. In a system designed to eliminate the need to trust third parties, the anonymous creator is the perfect embodiment of the principle.

From Statues to Cult: How Nakamoto Entered Pop Culture

As Bitcoin grew from a niche cryptographer hobby into a global asset, the image of Satoshi Nakamoto acquired almost mythological status.

In 2021, a bronze bust of Nakamoto with a reflective face was installed in Budapest—symbolizing that anyone can be Satoshi. In Lugano, Switzerland, where the municipality adopted Bitcoin for payments, a commemorative statue also appeared.

Clothing featuring Nakamoto’s image and name has become a pop culture commodity. In 2022, Vans even released a limited edition of shoes called “Satoshi Nakamoto.” Branded shirts and hoodies are sold to crypto enthusiasts worldwide.

Quotes from Nakamoto’s letters have become mantras of the movement: “The root of the problem with traditional currency is trust, which is required for its functioning,” or “If you don’t believe me, I don’t have time to convince you.”

Numbers That Speak for Themselves

In April 2025, when Bitcoin hit a new all-time high above $109,000, Nakamoto’s wealth temporarily exceeded $120 billion. Similarly, the number of cryptocurrency users worldwide in 2025—500 million—is a direct result of the innovation launched by one anonymous person 16 years ago.

Blockchain technology, born from Nakamoto’s white paper, has spawned an entire industry: smart contracts (Ethereum), decentralized finance (DeFi), challenging traditional banking. Central banks are developing their own digital currencies based on blockchain, though they have little in common with Nakamoto’s decentralized vision.

In March 2025, the U.S. president signed an executive order to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve. What was once unthinkable for an orthodox financier has become a political reality.

Completing the Puzzle

Satoshi Nakamoto remains a mystery. Is he alive? Has he died? Is it a group of people? There is no answer, and perhaps it will never be given. But that no longer matters.

Nakamoto’s legacy is not a person but an idea. The idea that the financial system can exist without central control, without trust in authorities, solely based on mathematics and consensus. This idea has taken root, become entrenched, and grown into something that the creator does not control and cannot control.

Perhaps that is the true genius: to create something so revolutionary that it lives and evolves independently of you, and thus remains forever part of you.