THELOGICALINDIAN - Search online for accessible creators of Bitcoin and Bit Gold architect Nick Szabo will consistently arise abreast the top of the account His continued history in the cypherpunk amplitude his writings on money agenda banknote and acute affairs and some facts about his accomplished accept generally been acclimated to actualize a acute account that he is Satoshi Nakamoto But abounding of the facts are misinterpreted and absolutely point adjoin this approach
Also Read: “I Designed Bitcoi… Gold” – The Many Facts Pointing to Nick Being Satoshi
Why It Even Matters
Bit Gold architect Nick Szabo is apparently not Satoshi. He is not alike one of the pretend Satoshis. He has said about several times that he is not the architect of Bitcoin. For years though, small-block bitcoiners accept auspiciously acclimated Szabo’s abstract Satoshiness in the Bitcoin ascent agitation to altercate adjoin changes to Bitcoin that would acquiesce it to assignment bigger as fast, reliable agenda cash.
During the 2017 Segwit2x fork, Litecoin architect and small-blocker Charlie Lee went as far as to use Szabo’s accessible Satoshiness as an altercation adjoin an access to BTC’s block admeasurement that would accept prevented the fasten in fees that occurred at the end of 2017, with the advance of forks like BCH and BSV, and helped advance BTC into a two-year aphotic age in which acceptance and amount accept stagnated.
More recently, small-blocker Dan Held shared what he said were similarities amid Satoshi and Szabo to altercate that Bitcoin was not advised primarily as a average of exchange, but as a collectible and abundance of value.
This is incorrect. Satoshi wrote he believed Bitcoin would bootstrap because it had account and authentic its ancient uses in an email on the Cryptography Mailing List as a account token, not a collectible.
As continued as addition can apparently brainstorm Szabo actuality Satoshi though, bodies will be able to use him to abutment arguments that ability contrarily be discredited with Satoshi’s autograph alone. Interestingly, there’s a arresting bulk of affirmation adjoin the Szabo-Satoshi theory. Let’s put it to blow by agitation three of the accepted arguments.
Why Szabo Probably Isn’t Satoshi
Claim: Satoshi was a cypherpunk like Nick Szabo
Nearly all the accepted theories about the origins of Bitcoin abode it durably aural the cypherpunk attitude of agitator agenda cash. The abstraction is that Satoshi was artlessly the end of a continued alley pioneered by cypherpunks like b-money architect Wei Dai and Nick Szabo, and that absolutely because of this, Satoshi could alike be Szabo. It isn’t absolutely baseless. In 2010, Satoshi wrote that Bitcoin is “an accomplishing of Wei Dai’s b-money … and Nick Szabo’s Bitgold proposal.” But there’s addition account for this.
Thanks to statements from cypherpunk Adam Back and emails from Wei Dai, we apperceive that Satoshi was back-crediting and commendation capacity back he said this, and that afore creating Bitcoin he was acceptable not alike acquainted of the arresting beforehand cypherpunk attempts to actualize agenda banknote like Nick Szabo would accept been.
It goes all the way aback to about mid-2008, several months afore Satoshi appear the whitepaper to the Cryptography Mailing List. Satoshi contacted Adam Back, who according to him appropriate he acquaintance b-money architect Wei Dai because the abstraction for Bitcoin articulate agnate to Wei’s beforehand proposal. Adam wrote that he believes it was he who got Wei Dai’s b-money advertence added to Satoshi’s Bitcoin paper. In added words, Satoshi, clashing Szabo, was apprenticed of b-money until Aback told him about it and alone added the commendation to the whitepaper because Aback told him about it.
Back hasn’t appear any emails, but we can affirm this chat apparently took abode because Wei Dai has released the emails Satoshi beatific him afterwards communicating with Back.
Two things are important here. 1) Satoshi didn’t alike apperceive the date to the b-money paper, advice which Szabo absolutely would accept had, and 2) his point that Bitcoin “expands on your ideas” acutely does not beggarly that Satoshi was actually afflicted by b-money or acquainted of it afore creating Bitcoin. He was artlessly giving acclaim to addition who apart had some agnate account afore him and overextension the chat about his new project. Wei tells us as abundant himself.
He additionally has said that “in Satoshi’s aboriginal emails to me he was allegedly blind of Nick Szabo’s ideas.” So abundant for the cypherpunk agent approach of Bitcoin and its accord to b-money and Bit Gold. It looks like Satoshi aloof capital to pad his assignment for credibility. Szabo ability be a cypherpunk, but Satoshi doesn’t arise to accept been one.
Claim: Satoshi and Szabo allotment the aforementioned eyes for Bitcoin
As we saw earlier, Charlie Lee acclimated the aggregate eyes altercation to absolve his action to the Segwit 2x fork, but a attending at the affirmation shows Szabo and Satoshi say about absolutely adverse things about important genitalia of Bitcoin. Compare what Szabo wrote in 2024 about ascent Bitcoin for baby payments to what Satoshi wrote 10 years before.
Szabo: “I’ve consistently anticipation of Bitcoin as evolving into a settlements-and-large-payments band that in the continued appellation bare a band 2 for customer payments.”
Satoshi: “[Micropayments] can become added applied if I apparatus client-only approach and the cardinal of arrangement nodes consolidates into a abate cardinal of able server farms. Whatever admeasurement micropayments you charge will eventually be practical. I anticipate in 5 or 10 years, the bandwidth and accumulator will assume trivial.”
While Satoshi accepted Bitcoin to calibration onchain according to Moore’s Law application large, able server farms, Szabo says he has consistently believed that agenda banknote would crave a abject adjustment band and a additional acquittal layer. Even 15 years afore Satoshi appear the Bitcoin whitepaper, Szabo explained on the Cypherpunk Mailing List a two-layer agenda banknote that is actual altered from Bitcoin: “accumulating credits/debits for use of on-line casework (including biking services, concert tickets, etc. purchased on-line), eventually paid for by some “real” currency: FRNs, yen, etc. Implemented with Chaum-style agreement to anticipate bogus and assure privacy.”
Let’s attending at two added quotes to be abiding Satoshi and Szabo don’t agree.
Szabo: “…we can accept assorted agreement layers instead of abstracted kinds of concrete objects. Bitcoin the adjustment & ample payments band is the “gold”; band 2s or 3s acclimated for retail are the “silver” and “copper”, abate but called to band 1.”
Satoshi: “Gold mining is a waste, but that decay is far beneath than the account of accepting gold accessible as a average of exchange. I anticipate the case will be the aforementioned for Bitcoin. The account of the exchanges fabricated accessible by Bitcoin will far beat the amount of electricity used.”
Satoshi and Szabo both accredit to gold, but while Szabo alleged gold a adjustment too, Satoshi accurately calls it a average of barter in his allegory to Bitcoin. In added words, Szabo thinks Bitcoin is for adjustment while Satoshi anticipation Bitcoin was for payments. Szabo is a small-blocker, Satoshi was a big-blocker.
Claim: Nick Szabo advisedly adapted his blog to adumbrate his tracks
Did Szabo absolutely adapt a blog column about Bit Gold? He did. In 2008, Szabo dated a blog post from 2005 to December 2008, about two months afterwards the Bitcoin whitepaper was released. Szabo-Satoshi theorists accept jumped on this for years as the absolute smoker gun that proves Szabo was aggravating to affectation his captivation in Bitcoin by authoritative it arise he was alive on Bit Gold at the aforementioned time Satoshi was absolution Bitcoin, but some analytic shows this isn’t as atrocious as it appears. Szabo explained this in a column on August 20, 2008 announcement that he would be accomplishing this so that he could bang his bigger accessories to the advanced of the armpit as ‘reruns.’
A web annal chase of the 2006 commodity Wet cipher and dry shows he began alteration dates to 2008 alone a few canicule afterwards the announcement, aloof like he said he would. Redating old posts so they arise at the top in the newsfeed is a acclaimed convenance amid bloggers and Nick redated several added posts in 2008 and 2009, including The Kula Ring, which was accounting in 2005 but now shows September 22nd as the date.
There’s no smoker gun here, aloof a accepted blogging practice.
Final Thoughts
What we’re larboard with afterwards all this is essentially added adversity authoritative the case Szabo is Satoshi. Satoshi doesn’t bout up about as able-bodied with the cypherpunk agent belief that accept been accepted for so continued which are capital for the Szabo theory, his eyes for ascent Bitcoin is the adverse of Szabo’s, and the accepted smoker gun approach about Szabo’s blog turns out to be abundant ado about nothing.
If Nick Szabo is Satoshi, he has done a arresting job of abrogation aliment crumbs that point the adverse way. From what we apperceive about Satoshi Nakamoto’s abilities, admittedly, that’s not absolutely inconceivable.
Who do you anticipate is Satoshi? One person? Many? Let us apperceive in the comments area below.
Images credits: Shutterstock, fair use.
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