What is Satoshi Nakamoto?
The pseudonym of Bitcoin's creator, who published the white paper in 2008, released the software in 2009, and stopped participating publicly in 2011.
Nakamoto's identity is unknown. Many people have been proposed and none has been demonstrated; a claim of identity that is not accompanied by a cryptographic signature from known early keys is not evidence.
The absence matters less than people assume. Bitcoin's rules are enforced by nodes, not by its author, and Nakamoto has had no special authority over the network since departing.
Claims to be Satoshi appear regularly. Absent a signature from a known Nakamoto key, they are assertions, not proof.
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This definition is part of the Bitcoin Logical glossary. For the fuller explanation, start with Learn, or see the live numbers on The Bitcoin Signal.