Adam Back Denies He’s Satoshi Nakamoto After NYT Names Him as Bitcoin Creator

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Longtime Bitcoiner Adam Back denied again on Wednesday that he is Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, posting a defense to X following the publication of a New York Times exposé that named him as the prime suspect behind the pseudonym.

John Carreyrou, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, determined that Back was the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto over the course of an 18-month investigation. The reporter, known for previously exposing the multibillion-dollar fraud at American health technology firm Theranos, reached the conclusion using a combination of grammar analysis, research, and in-person interviews.

“I am not Satoshi,” Back said on X, describing the article as a “combination of coincidence and similar phrases from people with similar experience and interests.” 

Satoshi’s identity has remained an enigma since Bitcoin was created 17 years ago, inspiring numerous books and documentaries. Carreyrou’s attempt at linking Back with Satoshi examined as many as 620 suspects.

The field was narrowed down by looking at similarities between Back’s and Satoshi’s writing across years of online posts and emails. Distinct errors, writing tics, and a penchant for using the same technical jargon indicated Back was Satoshi, according to the reporter.

What’s more, the report found that Back was first to think of Bitcoin’s foundational features. He also reportedly shared similar concerns with Satoshi toward emailed spam. On top of that, Back developed expertise in public-key cryptography, which underlies Bitcoin’s security.

Satoshi’s identity has been linked to countless personas, from cypherpunks such as Hal Finney and Nick Szabo to a Japanese-American man named Dorian Nakamoto. Some onlookers expressed skepticism on Wednesday, including one X user who pointed to Back’s recent work establishing a Bitcoin treasury firm.

“Yes, I’m sure Satoshi is doing a bitcoin treasury company with Cantor Fitzgerald,” said Teddy Fusaro, president of crypto asset manager Bitwise. “That definitely passes the smell test.”

Still, Carreyrou’s takeaway is partially based on interviews with Back. And during a conversation between the two in El Salvador, Back made a statement that Carreyrou categorized as a slip of the tongue implying that he was indeed Satoshi.

Carreyrou mentioned that Satoshi said he was “better with code than words.” In response, Back said, “I did a lot of talking for somebody, I mean … I mean, I’m not saying I’m good with words but I sure did a lot of yakking on these lists actually.”

On Wednesday, Back said on X that the statement’s “broader context was my observation that because I was talkative on the [Bitcoin development mailing list],” there’s some degree of confirmation bias involved in weighing that as a factor on the part of Carreyrou.

The New York Times exposé thrust Back into the spotlight following revelations last year that he was invited to Jeffrey Epstein’s island. Files released by the U.S. Department of Justice also showed that the convicted sex offender invested in Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure company co-founded and led by Back as CEO.

Carreyrou isn’t the first to pin Satoshi’s legacy on Back by assessing similarities in their writing, even if the latest takeaway was quickly dismissed by legions of Bitcoiners online.

Prior to his death in 2021, British-American computer programmer John McAfee said that Back was Nakamoto during an interview with CoinTelegraph: Back’s writing shares Satoshi’s habit of using two spaces at the beginning of a sentence and the British spelling of words, he said.

“If you want to know [who] it was, run some authoring software against [Bitcoin’s white paper],” McAfee said. “It’ll take you 15 minutes. But he doesn’t want to be known.”