For more than 17 years, no one has known who created Bitcoin. The famous white paper came out in 2008 under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, but no one has been able to prove who produced it.
Satoshi’s early mining rewards, about 1.1 million bitcoins, have never been moved, which has kept the mystery alive. This week, the New York Times published an investigation that claims Adam Back, cryptographer and cypherpunk, is most likely the person behind the name. He has denied the allegations. "i'm not satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography," he said on X.
Below is a careful look at the main clues that the New York Times highlighted in its investigation:
i'm not satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash, hence my ~1992 onwards active interest in applied research on ecash, privacy tech on cypherpunks list which led to hashcash and other ideas.
— Adam Back (@adam3us) April 8, 2026
Jemi Motesho
Back’s Early Work and Bitcoin
The investigation begins with a strong link between Adam Back and Bitcoin’s design. In 1997, Back created Hashcash, a system that used proof of work to stop spam emails by making computers solve small math puzzles before sending messages.
When Satoshi released the Bitcoin white paper in 2008, he clearly cited Hashcash as the basis for Bitcoin’s mining system. Bitcoin also uses proof of work, where computers solve math problems to secure the network and create new blocks.
The New York Times argued that this was more than simple inspiration. Bitcoin’s system closely builds on the same idea Back developed years earlier. At that time, very few people deeply understood digital cash and proof of work. Because Back was one of them, this connection helped narrow the list of possible candidates.
Matching Writing Styles
The investigation also looked closely at Satoshi Nakamoto’s writing patterns. This included the white paper, emails, forum posts, and messages on cryptography mailing lists. These were compared with Adam Back’s past writings, such as academic papers, old mailing list posts, and early online discussions.
Experts use a method called stylometry to study writing style. It examines word choice, spelling, punctuation, and grammar to find patterns that act like a fingerprint. In Satoshi’s writing, there were clear habits. He mixed British and American spelling. He used certain uncommon phrases. He also sometimes placed two spaces between sentences, a habit more common among older writers.
The investigation found similar patterns in Adam Back’s writing from the 1990s and early 2000s. Both writers switched between “e-mail” and “email.” Both alternated between spellings like “optimise” and “optimize.” They also shared small habits in how they used hyphens. These details may seem minor, but such patterns are usually formed over many years.
Cypherpunk Community
Another important part of the investigation looked at the Cypherpunks community. This was a group of programmers and privacy supporters who chatted on internet mailing lists in the 1990s and early 2000s. They discussed encryption, digital money, and how to protect freedom online. Many of the ideas later used in Bitcoin were first debated in these spaces.
Adam Back was active in these discussions long before Bitcoin existed. He joined the Cypherpunks mailing list in the mid-1990s and regularly wrote about privacy, cryptography, and digital cash. These were the same topics that Satoshi later combined to create Bitcoin. The New York Times stated, “Satoshi was also very likely a member of the Cypherpunks, a group of anarchists formed in the early 1990s who wanted to use cryptography.”
Back's earlier writings show he was thinking deeply about decentralised digital money years before the Bitcoin white paper appeared.
The investigation also pointed to timing. It noted that Back’s public activity on some forums became quieter around the same period when Satoshi began posting about Bitcoin. Later, after Satoshi stopped communicating in 2011, Back became more visible again in Bitcoin discussions. This overlap in timing was presented as another clue linking Back’s online presence to Satoshi’s disappearance and emergence.
Jemi Motesho
Direct Contact Before Bitcoin Launched
Adam Back did not just talk about digital money in theory. He had direct contact with Satoshi before Bitcoin officially launched.
In 2008, while Bitcoin was still being developed, Satoshi emailed Back to confirm that his explanation of Hashcash in the draft white paper was accurate. This exchange is one of the few known early emails between Satoshi and a respected cryptographer.
This email matters because it clearly shows that Back was in direct communication with Bitcoin’s creator at a very early stage. It also shows that Satoshi cared enough about technical accuracy to reach out to the original inventor of Hashcash.
He was not casually copying ideas. He was checking details with the person who created the system. This close early connection strengthened the view that Back and Nakamoto were closely linked, whether as collaborators or possibly as the same person.
Tiny Writing Habits That Stand Out
The investigation by The New York Times didn’t stop at general writing style. It examined small, specific habits in writing that are hard to fake, like how Satoshi used hyphens and certain rare technical phrases. One clear example was the term “proof-of-work,” which Satoshi often wrote with hyphens in ways that matched Back’s own writing from years before.
These small details, like whether someone adds or skips a hyphen or chooses one technical phrase over another, are usually unconscious habits formed over years. They can reveal an author more reliably than broad style patterns. When the researchers checked thousands of posts from hundreds of possible suspects, Back’s writing showed these unusual habits far more often than anyone else, making him stand out as a strong match for Satoshi.
Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity continues to matter because it shows that even in a system as transparent as Bitcoin, where every transaction is recorded publicly, the creator can remain completely hidden.
Jemi Motesho
