Who Founded Bitcoin?
Satoshi Nakamoto is the mysterious founder, or founders, of Bitcoin. Learn about the Bitcoin founder and theories about who Satoshi Nakamoto could be.
An anonymous individual or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 and mined the first block in 2009, then disappeared by 2010.
The creator left digital traces, whitepaper, early code, forum posts, and an estimated 1 million unspent Bitcoins, but never revealed their real identity.
Candidates for who the creator may be include Hal Finney, Nick Szabo, Adam Back, Dorian Nakamoto, Craig Wright, and Peter Todd.
Who created Bitcoin?
Bitcoin was founded by an unknown person (or group of people) using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
In 2008, Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” and in January 2009, released the first version of the Bitcoin software, mining the genesis block (the very first block on the Bitcoin blockchain).
The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains unknown. No one knows whether it was a single individual or a team. Nakamoto was active in the Bitcoin community until around 2010, then disappeared, leaving the project in the hands of other developers.
Who controls Bitcoin?
Bitcoin isn’t controlled by any single person, company, or government; instead, it’s decentralized and maintained through a global network of computers (nodes) that verify transactions, miners who secure the blockchain by adding new blocks, and developers who improve the open-source code. Changes to Bitcoin only happen if the majority of participants agree, meaning control comes from community consensus rather than a central authority.
Read next: Why Does Bitcoin Have Value?
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, credited with publishing the 2008 whitepaper that outlined the system and releasing the first Bitcoin software in 2009. Nakamoto mined the first block of the blockchain (the “genesis block”) and communicated with early developers, but stopped being publicly active around 2010. To this day, Nakamoto’s true identity, whether an individual or a group, remains unknown, making them one of the biggest mysteries in the tech and financial world.
What’s known about Satoshi Nakamoto?
What’s known about Satoshi Nakamoto comes almost entirely from digital traces, not real-world identity:
Bitcoin whitepaper (2008): Satoshi introduced Bitcoin through a paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.”
Software release (2009): They launched the first version of the Bitcoin software and mined the genesis block, embedding the message “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”
Online presence: Satoshi communicated on cryptography forums and by email with early developers, writing in fluent English but never revealing personal details.
Activity timeline: They remained active until about 2010, then gradually withdrew, leaving Bitcoin’s development to the community.
Holdings: Satoshi is believed to own around 1 million Bitcoin, mined in the early days but never spent, worth tens of billions of dollars at today’s prices.
Identity mystery: No verified information exists about their real name, location, or background; theories suggest they could be an individual or a group of people.
Theories on who Satoshi Nakamoto could be
There are several leading theories as to who Satoshi Nakamoto may be.
Hal Finney
Hal Finney was a renowned cryptographer, an early Bitcoin adopter, and the first person (besides Satoshi) to run Bitcoin software.
Evidence to suggest Finney may be Nakamoto includes:
He lived in the same town (Temple City, CA) as Dorian Nakamoto (another suspect), which fueled speculation.
He received the very first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi in 2009.
His coding style and cryptographic background matched Bitcoin’s technical depth.
However, Hal denied being Satoshi, explaining he simply helped test the system. Emails between him and Satoshi support his claim. He passed away in 2014 from ALS.
Nick Szabo
Nick Szabo is a computer scientist and cryptographer, known for creating “Bit Gold,” a precursor to Bitcoin. Evidence to suggest Szabo may be Nakamoto includes:
His writings on decentralized money are strikingly similar to Bitcoin’s concepts.
Linguistic analysis of the Bitcoin whitepaper found similarities with Szabo’s writing.
However, Szabo has repeatedly denied being Satoshi. Some argue Bitcoin improves upon his ideas but isn’t directly his work.
Adam Back
Adam Back is a British cryptographer and inventor of Hashcash, a proof-of-work system later used in Bitcoin. Evidence to suggest Back is Nakamoto includes:
Bitcoin’s whitepaper references Hashcash directly.
Back had direct expertise in the cryptography needed for Bitcoin.
However, Back has denied being Satoshi, though some theories suggest he could be part of a group behind the pseudonym.
Dorian Nakamoto
Dorian Nakamoto is a Japanese-American man living in California. In 2014, Newsweek published a cover story claiming he was Satoshi, based largely on his surname and background in engineering.
However, Dorian firmly denied involvement, saying he had never heard of Bitcoin until journalists showed up at his house. Most experts dismiss this theory.
Craig Wright
Craig Wright is an Australian computer scientist who publicly claimed in 2016 that he is Satoshi, providing documents and signatures as ‘proof’. However, cryptographic experts quickly debunked his “proofs” as fake or misleading. Many in the Bitcoin community consider his claims fraudulent, though he continues to assert them in court cases.
Peter Todd
Petor Todd is a Canadian Bitcoin core developer. The HBO documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” argues that Todd’s forum activity overlaps suspiciously with Satoshi’s last posts; timing and writing style hint at deeper involvement.
However, Todd calls the claims "ludicrous" and criticizes the documentary's speculative nature.
A group, not one person
Some researchers believe “Satoshi Nakamoto” could have been a team of cryptographers and programmers rather than a single genius, as the breadth of knowledge, economics, cryptography, and distributed systems might suggest collaboration.
Don't forget your Bitcoin tax bill...
Overall, nobody knows for sure who Satoshi Nakamoto is, and we may never know. But one thing is for sure, and that's if you're trading Bitcoin, your profits are taxable. Learn how Bitcoin and crypto is taxed where you live in our crypto tax guides, or sign up to Koinly free to calculate your Bitcoin taxes automatically.
